Tales From Another Broken Home
by Hidge
Summary: Part 1 of Hold On So Hard To Things That Once Defined Me. Criminal MindsWithout A Trace Crossover. The BAU is called to New York City to assist the Missing Persons Unit in solving the murders of two couples who have nothing in common. ElleReid. Please R
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer : I do not own any of the characters of Criminal Minds or Without A Trace!**

**Chapter 1 – "Get me Jennifer Jareau of the BAU."**

_Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, New York_

_New York City FBI Field Office, Missing Persons Unit_

Special Agent Elena Delgado sat at her desk and looked at the blank whiteboard nervously. She finally decided to put her uncertainties at rest, so she picked up her cell phone and dialed a once familiar number.

"Hello," she heard a voice say on the other end.

"Hey Kevin. It's me Elena, I need a favour…"

After fifteen minutes on the phone with Kevin, Elena finally hung up her phone and turned to her co-worker, Vivian Johnson. "Viv, I was just talking to Kevin, my old partner at NYPD and they're pretty sure the two cases are the same guy."

Vivian sighed heavily; all their fears had been confirmed with one phone call: New York City had a serial killer on their hands. Over the past three months, the New York City Missing Persons Unit of the FBI had two cases in particular that demanded special attention. Two families, each consisting of a mother, a father, and a young child, had gone missing. The bodies of the man and woman were found dumped in the Hudson River and the young child was left abandoned in a church. The families had gone missing a month and a half apart and Elena in particular, being a former Homicide Detective, had felt that there were too many similarities for the cases not to be connected, so she had decided to use her connections at NYPD to provide the team with some inside information.

Vivian's thought were interrupted with a question from Elena, "So Viv, what are we going to do? Are we just going to sit around for a month and a half and wait for another family to disappear without a trace?"

Vivian answered Elena with a low, "I dunno," as she got up from her desk and walked towards her supervisor's office. She knocked lightly on the glass door and then pushed it open. "Jack we gotta talk."

"What's this about?" Asked Supervisory Special Agent Jack Malone as he dropped his pen and looked up from a pile of paperwork.

Vivian sat down in the chair across from Jack's desk and hesitantly said, "Elena was just talking to a detective over at NYPD and they're working on the angle that the Robinson and Frye cases are related."

"So…" Jack was a very intelligent, observant man who read people really well but he couldn't understand why Vivian was telling him this.

"So," she said almost angrily, "On both the Robinson and Frye cases there were no leads and if we're dealing with a serial killer I think we should get some help before another innocent child ends up parentless." Vivian felt that was all she needed to say and she got up out of her chair and left the office, walking towards the elevator to go home.

Jack looked out into the bullpen, Elena had also left and therefore it was now empty. His team had become frustrated and discouraged recently and as much as he hated to admit it, Viv was right, they needed help. He picked up his phone and started dialing. Rings started to go in and then he heard, "FBI Headquarters, how may I help you?"

"Yes, this is Jack Malone, Supervisor of the Missing Persons Unit in New York City. Get me Jennifer Jareau of the BAU."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Criminal Minds or Without A Trace**

**Chapter 2 – Back To NYC**

_Quantico, Virginia_

_Behavioral Analysis Unit Headquarters _

Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner walked out of his calm and quiet office and into the hustle and bustle of the Behavioral Analysis bullpen. "BAU team, can I see you in the round table room," he stated in his always composed and controlled voice.

At his direction, Special Agents Dr. Spencer Reid, Derek Morgan, and Elle Greenaway, got up from their desks and walked towards the conference room that they affectionately called the "round table room". As they walked in through the door they saw Senior Supervisory Special Agent Jason Gideon sat at the table anxious to get to work and Special Agent Jennifer "JJ" Jareau stood up in front of the empty bulletin board. At first they were confused, usually when they were starting a new case, by the time Hotch called them together, JJ already had crime scene and victim photos posted on the board and a large number of files her hands, but this time their was nothing.

They decided to save their questions and once they were seated JJ began talking, "Late last night I got a call from the New York City Field Office asking for help with a series of unsolved cases, I told them that like all the other cases we get around here we'll review it and get back to them. But after that Assistant Director Fitzgerald called requesting our immediate assistance." JJ rolled her eyes as she spoke, the team knew that A.D. Fitzgerald isn't exactly the easiest person to get along with.

"So what's the case?" Elle asked inquisitively.

"That's the thing, I was just about to call back New York and ask them to fax us over the files when Fitzgerald called saying that we have to be in New York right away."

"So you mean to tell me that we're gonna go to New York and we haven't even reviewed the case files," Derek Morgan was famous for getting frustrated when there wasn't a carefully thought out plan.

"We're going to view this case with a completely open mind," the whole team looked at Gideon as it was the first time that he had spoken.

"Airstrip in twenty?" Hotch looked around as the team nodded at his question. He turned to JJ, "JJ go get Garcia, you guys are comin too."

And with that the Behavioral Analysis team disassembled and went to their desks and offices and then to the parking lot to retrieve their pre-packed overnight bags. They were off to New York City.

--------------------

_BAU Jet_

_Flight From Quantico to New York City_

The team was scattered around the small aircraft doing different things, even though it was only a one hour flight Hotch had decided to take a nap because his newborn baby had kept him up most of the night, Gideon was immersed in a book, JJ was on the phone at the back of the plane, Analyst Penelope Garcia was playing online Tetris on her laptop, and Elle and Morgan were trying to finally beat Reid at poker.

"Its no fair, you grew up in Vegas," Elle whined as she lost yet another hand to Reid.

"Like I've told you all before, poker is simple statistics and probability," Spencer Reid replied smirking.

Derek Morgan was just about to start dealing out the cards again, when JJ hung up the phone and began speaking, "Ok, New York knows we're on our way."

"But we still know nothing about this case, am I right?" Morgan asked irritated.

JJ sighed, "All we know is that the Missing Persons Unit of the New York Field Office has had two unusual unsolved cases in the past three months. They were turned over to the Homicide division of NYPD when they found the bodies but they couldn't find anything either."

"Missing Persons?" Elle asked confused, "You mean we're not working with NYPD?"

"Oh we probably will be working with NYPD at some point but the Missing Persons Unit is the one who called us in, so we'll mainly be working with them." JJ picked up the phone again and began to dial numbers.

"There are over 15 million people in New York. Do you have any idea how many people could go missing in three months?" Morgan asked rhetorically.

"Actually New York City has an exact population of 8.1 million people, now the New York Metropolitan area has a population of 18.7 million." Reid began listing off facts about New York City as if he was reading from a book. "Did you know that New York City has the lowest crime rate among major American cities? Also, New York City has five boroughs, but if those boroughs were considered actually cities, four of them would be among the ten most populous cities in the United States."

Elle smirked at him; she loved it when he went on what JJ liked to call his "intellectual rants."

"The Bronx has a population of 1,357,589; Manhattan has a population of 1,593,200 and Queens has…"

Morgan cut him off, "Reid, shut up!"

Elle laughed at the looks on both Derek's and Spencer's faces and then she gazed out the window. She looked down at all the familiar buildings, "Hey guys we're almost there." Elle wasn't exactly sure if she was delighted or depressed to be coming home.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Criminal Minds or Without A Trace**

**Chapter 3 – Something Just Doesn't Feel Right **

_Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, New York_

_New York City FBI Field Office, Missing Persons Unit_

It was a typical morning at the Missing Persons Unit, Jack was busy in his office with paperwork and the agents in the bullpen were busy with paperwork, but for some reason Special Agent Martin Fitzgerald couldn't shake the feeling that something about this morning was different. Every other team of the unit were all out on cases but they weren't, this was strange because usually they are the first team to get handed a case because of their experience, yet here they all are filling out paperwork. Martin glanced at his watch, it was 8:30, he swiveled his chair around to face the desk of Special Agent Danny Taylor.

"Hey Danny, do you think it's weird that we haven't got a case yet?"

Danny laughed, "People go missing at all hours of the day remember Martin?"

"Shut up! I'm serious, all the other teams are out in the field and we're here filling out mindless paperwork." Martin sounded almost afraid.

Special Agent Samantha Spade overheard their conversation and chimed in, "Martin calm down, we've gone days without cases, its no big deal."

He realized that what both Danny and Sam said was completely true but something told him that today the Missing Persons Unit was in for something they had never experienced before.

Danny got up from his desk to stretch, "Anybody want any…" He was about to finish his sentence with 'coffee' when he noticed seven people that he had never seen before walk up the long hallway outside of the glass doors of the bullpen and step into Jack's office.

Martin, Sam, and Elena also got up from their desks and stood beside Danny. Viv however, remained at her desk as if seven strangers walking into their place of work was an everyday occurrence. The four young agents took in every detail of the seven individuals as they left Jack's office and moved into the bullpen.

They were led by a tall, white, handsome, middle-aged man with short dark hair. He was dressed very professionally, he wore a black suit and tie with a white dress shirt, and by the looks of it, he carried two guns, one on his belt and the other in a holster on the inside of his lower left leg.

The man that stood next to him looked like he was in the middle of retirement. He was also white but he looked shorter, older, and more casual, he wore a light blue button-up shirt and shabby black dress pants.

Behind them was an African-American male, he was very tall and handsome, with closely shaved hair. He looked to be in his early to mid-thirties, and wore a black suit and tie but his dress shirt was white with black pinstripes.

The young man that stood next to him looked the most out of place. He looked like a college student; he had on a pair of brown dress pants, a white dress shirt and brown tie and over it a burgundy sweater vest. His hair was longer than the other men's, he had to keep tucking it behind his ear as it fell in his face. He also had a tan leather bag slung over his shoulder that fell to his side.

Their supervisor, Jack Malone, was the next to enter the bullpen and next to him was a white woman that reminded them of Samantha, except that she looked a little younger, maybe late twenties. She was very pretty and had the same long blonde hair and slim build. She wore a dark blue blouse, black blazer, knee-length skirt and dress shoes.

The next person to come through the door was also a woman. She had glasses and curled blonde hair with pink streaks, she wore a bright pink and white checkered sweater and black dress pants. She had a cup of coffee in one hand and what looked like a black laptop bag in the other. They noticed that she was the only one in the group that was not carrying a gun.

Then, finally, the last of the seven entered the now almost crowded bullpen. She was taller and skinnier than the previous two women. She had long dark hair and looked to be in her early thirties. She had a light skin tone but there was something about her that made Danny and Elena think that she has a Hispanic heritage. She wore tight fitting blue jeans and a red sweater that she had button up half way to show that she had a black shirt on underneath. Her firearm was in a holster that was attached to a strap around her shoulders so that the gun fell to her left side under her arm just above her waist.

Whoever they were, they were a very eclectic group of people. Many ideas of who they could possibly be rushed through the four agents' heads as the group walked closer and closer to them.

Vivian moved to stand beside the four others as Jack began the introductions, "This is the Behavioral Analysis Unit from Quantico. They've come to lend us a hand. This is my team," Jack introduced them in the order of which they were standing, "Special Agents Danny Taylor, Martin Fitzgerald, Samantha Spade, Elena Delgado, and Vivian Johnson."

The tall professional looking man walked over to each of them and shook their hands, "Nice to meet you, I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner, and this is SSA Jason Gideon," he pointed to the older man next to him. "SSAs Derek Morgan and Elle Greenaway, Special Agents Dr. Spencer Reid and Jennifer Jareau, and our Analyst Penelope Garcia."

After the introductions, the curious agents who had sized up the strangers so intensely could now put names to faces. The serious man in the suit was Aaron Hotchner, the older man who looked like he should have been retired was actually legendary profiler Jason Gideon, the "college student" was surprisingly _Dr. _Spencer Reid, the African-American male was Derek Morgan, the blonde in the skirt was Jennifer Jareau, the woman with the long dark hair was Elle Greenaway, and the flamboyant woman with pink streaks in her hair was Penelope Garcia.

Jack spoke once again, "Make yourselves at home, I've got to make a few calls and then I'll brief you on the case." Jack turned on his heel and went back into his office.

Aaron Hotchner turned towards Penelope Garcia, "Garcia do you need anything?"

"Actually honey I'll be needing a connection to a system of desktop computers or at least three other laptops," She smiled at him as she spoke.

Viv pointed to the conference table they normally used where four laptops laid, "You can use those."

Garcia immediately moved towards the table and began unpacking her equipment.

Danny boldly spoke up, "You know we do have our own tech room?"

Dr. Spencer Reid replied to him, almost shyly at first but more confidently than he expected, "Yes, and the New York City Field Office has one of the top rated Audio/Visual Technician teams in the FBI, its just that Garcia has access to an abundance of information, she has access to continental databases and criminal records from across the…"

Derek Morgan cut him off, "What he's trying to say is that Garcia's the best."

Garcia looked up from her task of connecting the laptops together and smiled at him, "Thank you gorgeous."

The BAU team sat around the conference table as Danny walked off towards the break room, Martin followed.

Danny picked up the coffee pot and poured himself a cup as Martin began to lecture him, "You know you shouldn't be hostile towards them, they're probably the best team of agents in the world. I mean that's Jason Gideon out there. Do you realize how many bastards he's put away? "

Danny, not meaning to be rude our unwelcoming towards the BAU, laughed, "Yeah and how would you know?"

"Cuz, do you know how often my Dad talks about them, especially Gideon, they're like gods in his book, and besides I worked with one of them." Martin also began to pour himself a cup of coffee.

At this statement Danny became interested, "Oh really, which one?"

"Greenaway," he said as he took a sip of his coffee.

Danny smirked, "You mean the hott one in the tight jeans with the long dark hair."

Martin laughed and almost spit out the hott liquid that was in his mouth, "Yeah, well I didn't really work with her, we worked in Seattle at the same time. I was just a junior agent in white collar and she was supervisor of the Violent Crimes Unit, she probably doesn't even remember me."

Meanwhile……

Elle sat next to Derek at the conference table restlessly awaiting a briefing of the case. She glanced over at a desk that had the name 'Martin Fitzgerald' written on the placard. She turned to Derek, "I think I kinda know that guy."

"What guy?" Derek asked absentmindedly.

"Fitzgerald, I think he was in Seattle the same time I was in Seattle."

JJ, who was sat on the other side of Elle, joined in on the conversation. "He's the A.D.'s son."

Derek looked at her shocked, "No way!" JJ nodded. "He must have some serious pull here for a junior agent."

JJ agreed with him, "Oh yeah."

They watched as Danny Taylor, a tall, handsome, Cuban man and Martin Fitzgerald, an equally handsome white male, returned from what they guessed was the break room at the same time that Jack Malone entered the bullpen with case files in hand.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Criminal Minds or Without A Trace or the lryics to "Jesus of Suburbia"**

**Chapter 4 - The Jesus of Suburbia**

_Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, New York_

_New York City FBI Field Office, Missing Persons Unit_

The Missing Persons Unit took their seats at the conference table across from the BAU as Jack began to hand out the case files.

"On January 13th, 28-year old Ethan Frye, his 24-year old wife, Melinda, and their 2-year old daughter, Maria, went missing. Five days later, on the morning of the 18th, the bodies of Ethan and Melinda Frye were found in the Hudson River, floating. A few hours later, Maria was found alone in an empty church in Brooklyn." Jack briefly paused, "Almost a month and a half earlier, on November 29th, Paul Robinson, 35, his wife Claire, also 35, and their 4-year old son Peter, went missing. Again five days later, on December 4th, the bodies of the parents were found floating in the Hudson River, and the boy was found alone in a church. Flip to the middle of the file please." Jack waited for the BAU to find the page he was referring to, "In both cases an envelope was found in the child's coat pocket. Inside the envelope were two pieces of paper, the first was a handwritten note that read, 'You'll be better off I promise', and the second was a typed letter that had the lyrics to a song on it."

Elle read the first verse of the lyrics silently to herself, "Jesus of Suburbia."

Reid turned to her, "Artists: the punk rock band named Green Day, off the Grammy Award-Winning album, 'American Idiot'."

Morgan laughed and whispered to Reid, "I had no idea you even listened to music."

Gideon removed his glasses from his shirt pocket and put them on, "The man was shot execution style in the head, no signs of torture, the woman was raped and her throat was cut, from ear to ear, hesitation marks are present, there was also extreme mutilation of the woman's body. The child however was found alive and unharmed."

Hotch turned to Jack Malone, "This case was turned over to NYPD?"

"Yes, they chased down a couple of leads but they were all dead ends, I believe they still have a team working on it." Jack was very cooperative in answering Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner's question but he truly did not understand how sitting around and talking about it was going to help them catch this guy. "So what's your plan of action?"

Gideon looked up over his glasses, "Morgan and I will go to the church that both kids were found at."

Morgan got up quickly from his chair, "If we can find out why this guy leaves the kids where he does, we can get a better idea of how he works."

Gideon also got up from his chair and was about to turn and walk out of the bullpen when he heard Agent Malone say, "I'm going to send one of my agents with you." He looked towards Elena and titled his head towards the door. At that silent command Elena Delgado followed Jason Gideon and Derek Morgan out the door.

Hotch looked towards JJ, "Tell the press we're going to have a complete profile by the end of the day, let's try to get the press conference on the eleven o'clock news."

Samantha Spade watched Jennifer Jareau take the elevator down to the first floor which was known grimly as 'The Press Floor', but she was curious at Agent Hotchner's direction, "Why are we involving the press? Hardly any of the details of the case has been leaked to the media."

Hotch answered her calmly, as he always did, "Because in our experience, once we release the profile, the media and the public have always been the most helpful at luring out possibly suspects." Once he answered her question he turned to Garcia who was at the opposite end of the table. "How long will it take you to upload to the database in Quantico?"

"It shouldn't take me too long now handsome."

Hotch nodded approvingly, "Good." He turned to Elle and Reid, "Reid you work on victimology, Elle I wanna know what kind of rapist our unsub is."

Elle replied for both herself and Reid, "You got it. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to meet with the detectives working this case over at NYPD," he turned to Jack, "Would one of your agents like to come with me?"

Jack nodded and looked at Viv, "Agent Johnson will go with you."

With Elena and Viv gone, Jack began giving orders to the rest of his team, "I want you three to help these agents in anyway possible. Martin, get the complete files for these cases."

Martin always followed orders well so he walked to the opposite end of the room towards the large filing cabinet to retrieve the files he was asked to bring back. He laid a relatively large pile of paper in front of Dr. Spencer Reid. He watched amazed as Reid read through the files at an incredible rate.

"Can you actually read that fast?" He asked curiously.

Reid didn't look up, "Yes, I can read 20,000 words per minute."

"Reid pass me the medical examiner's reports on Melinda Frye and Claire Robinson." Reid passed two pieces of paper to Elle as she got up and moved towards the whiteboard.

Danny watched the two BAU agents work intensely and he finally decided to ask the question that had been on his mind since they first walked in through the door. "So what exactly do you guys do?" Danny got angry looks from Sam and Martin but he didn't care.

Elle turned around to face him, "We profile the killer, study his behavior, so we can best predict what he's going to do next."

Dr. Reid finally looked up from his stack of papers, "The most accurate profiles include the nature of the crime scene, who the victims are, where the victims were last scene or taken from, where the bodies are found, how he kills and/or tortures his victims. We try to best describe his personality, is he organized or disorganized? Does he stalk his victims or are his kills at random? And most importantly what about how he kills his victims gives him an emotional or sexual release."

The three Missing Persons Unit agents stared back at him in awe; this guy was like a walking encyclopedia.

All of a sudden Garcia spoke up excitedly, "Okay guys I am on line!"

"Great," Reid responded as he passed Garcia the handwritten note. "Scan this in and see if it matches anything you can find."

"Honey, if this guy exists at all I should be able to match his handwriting." Garcia took the note from Reid and began scanning it into her system.

"Reid, what can you tell from his handwriting?" Elle looked at him with a smile, she couldn't even imagine what the team would be like if Reid wasn't a part of it.

"Our unsub is left-handed, he's extremely neat and particular with his penmanship but the formation of his letters reveals nothing about his personality other than he's very confident."

It was Martin's turn to be curious this time, "How can you tell?"

Reid pointed to the picture of the note, "His writing is very steady, if he lacked confidence it would be shakier, less connected."

Elle sat back down at the conference table next to Reid and began jotting down notes on a notepad. She stopped briefly and looked at the three agents, "How did these families disappear?"

Finally feeling like they could contribute Martin, Sam and Danny became more relaxed in their seats across from Elle and Reid.

Sam took the lead, "Paul Robinson was initially reported missing by his employer, he never showed up late for work so his boss decided to call his wife, who also did not show up for work that morning. The son was also not dropped of at pre-school."

Danny followed Sam's initiative, "Ethan Frye also did not show up for work on the morning that he disappeared. We investigated his disappearance as a solo one until we went to his apartment and talked to the landlord, who said that he hadn't seen his wife or daughter since the night before."

Reid turned to face Elle, "He stalked his victims, followed their every move, he knew their schedules."

"Well that explains the time frame between the two killings; he wanted to make sure that nothing could go wrong. Our guy's careful." Elle looked at Reid discouraged and then she turned to Danny. "Was there any sign of a struggle at their homes?"

He passed her the crime scene photos, "None."

"Hey guys," they all stared at Garcia as she spoke with apprehension in her voice. "I got nothing."

"What?" Elle asked taken aback.

"I got nothing." Garcia typed furiously. "This guy doesn't have a credit card, has never cashed a check, never signed for a delivery, none of his writing is on file."

Martin looked at Elle and Reid puzzled, "So what does that mean?"

Elle looked back at him nervously, "It means our unsub is probably a minor."

Reid threw the piece of paper with the song lyrics on it lightly across the table, "The Jesus of Suburbia."


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Criminal Minds or Without A Trace or the lyrics of 'Jesus of Suburbia'**

**Chapter 5 – Colonel Mustard in the Library with a Wrench**

_Upper Manhattan, Manhattan, New York_

_NYPD Headquarters_

Hotch and Vivian walked through the doors of NYPD Headquarters and saw only a few men working with immense concentration. A very tall and very skinny, young looking man with short, blonde hair and a goatee noticed their entrance and walked towards them. Hotch assumed he was a detective because he wore dress pants, a dress shirt, and a tie, instead of the traditional NYPD uniform.

He outstretched his hand towards Hotch, "You must be Agent Hotchner from the BAU, it's an honor to meet you." He smiled towards Vivian and also shook her hand, "Nice to see you again Agent Johnson."

Viv smiled back, "Always a pleasure."

The young man looked at Hotch, "I'm Detective Perry, you can just call me Dylan if you like. I'm one of the detectives working the case you guys are here about. Come on, we'll talk in my office, its right around the corner, you can't miss it, it has my name on the door. I gotta go find my partner."

Hotch and Viv walked in the direction Detective Perry had pointed to and entered the office with his name on the door. The office was quite small. It contained a desk covered in paperwork and a laptop; there were two chairs across from the desk and an array of pictures covered the walls.

Hotch and Viv took their seats and waited for Detective Perry to return. When he did he had a man with him that looked relatively the same age, he had wavy, jet black hair that fell just above his shoulders and dark brown eyes, something about his facial features was very familiar to Hotch. He wore dress pants and a black dress shirt.

Perry began to introduce them to each other, "This is Agent Hotchner from the BAU and of course you know Agent Johnson. This is my partner, Detective Robert Greenaway."

Hotch's mind raced a mile a minute, 'Greenaway?'

Detective Greenaway walked to the other side of the room and propped himself against the wall while Detective Perry sat in his chair behind the desk.

"So," he began as he smiled at Viv and Hotch, "what do you need from us?"

"Well you know that the BAU has been called in to investigate the Robinson and Frye murders, and we do agree that it's a serial killer. We basically want to know the usual, any initial suspects, any witness testimonies that could possible help?"

Perry moved forward and leaned his elbows on the desk, "We had some suspects early on for the Robinson case but they all checked out and then when the Frye case came in," he threw his hands up, "nothing!"

Greenaway finally spoke, "There is no form of connection between the Robinson and Frye cases that we could find. No business or financial connection, their children had no previous contact, they come from completely different social pictures so no common friends or acquaintances."

Vivian turned from Greenaway to Perry, "Can we still have your initial suspect list? You know, just in case."

Perry nodded, "Yeah sure." He rummaged through the files in his desk drawer, pulled one out and passed it to Viv.

"Thank you."

Viv looked through the file as an older man knocked on the door. "Perry, can I see you for a second?" He asked in a very thick raspy voice.

"Yup!" Perry hopped out of his chair and walked out of the office.

Hotch scrutinized Detective Greenaway's appearance searching for anything that could possible signal that he was related to Elle. He had the same hair, eyes, and skin tone, but half of the Hispanic community of New York probably had the same exact features. He accepted the fact that the same last name was probably a coincidence, like Reid said, there are 18.7 million people in the metropolitan area of New York City.

The silence was broken when they heard a 'ding' from Perry's laptop. Greenaway moved towards the computer and mindlessly pressed the enter button. His look changed from calm and collected to highly interested and worried as he silently read the message on the screen. He pressed a button on the keyboard and instantly a printer on the shelf began publishing. He snatched the page out of the machine and passed it to Hotch and Viv.

They began reading. It was a handwritten copy of the lyrics to 'Jesus of Suburbia', with certain words color-coded, underlined, scratched out, and italicized.

"We should get this back, maybe Reid can analyze it," Hotch said sternly.

As Viv and Hotch got up to leave, Detective Perry returned, "Hey, where are you guys going?"

Viv answered his question, "To the FBI Field Office, come on you guys are coming too."

Hotch rushed out of the building followed by Vivian, and detectives Perry and Greenaway.

Meanwhile……

_East New York, Brooklyn, New York_

_St. Mary's Church_

Gideon, Morgan, and Elena exited the black SUV they had borrowed from the New York City Field Office and gazed up at a church. It looked very old and run-down, it was relatively small with dark orange siding and the name, 'St. Mary's', was carved above the doors.

Morgan examined his surroundings, "Why here? No way would you come to this particular church unless you were local."

Gideon led the three agents up over the stairs and through the large wooden doors. When they entered there was not one person in sight. Gideon sized up the inside of the building intently. It was your typical Roman Catholic Church, an altar at the front and statues of the Crucifixion and the Virgin Mary at the back; there were no more then forty pews.

Gideon sat in the very last pew, "He thinks that by bringing them here he is going to be forgiven for his sins."

Morgan paced up and down the aisle, "So we're dealing with a religious guy?"

Elena decided to give her input in her thick Spanish accent, "Not necessarily. Even if you aren't religious, to most people a church represents a feeling of safety."

Morgan continued to pace as he spoke, "Ok so I'm the unsub. I've got the man, woman, and the child, there were no ligature marks found on the bodies so I probably had my gun to them the whole time. 'Scream and I'll kill you.'"

Elena watched very interested as Agent Morgan continued to role play.

"I shoot the husband cuz he's my biggest threat," Morgan made an 'L' shape with the thumb and index finger of his right hand, pointed it towards the floor and made a 'pow' sound effect. "I get to the woman and for some reason my manner changes, the kill is more violent, I change weapons. Instead of distancing myself from the victim with a gun like I did with the man, I decide to make it personal. I slit her throat and severely mutilate her body, and then I get to the kid. I can't bring myself to kill, or for that matter, even injure them, so I bring them here. Why?"

"He wants to protect the children," Morgan and Elena turned to Gideon as he spoke, his body positioned straight ahead, not glancing at them. "He takes pity on them, brings them here because he knows that eventually they'll be found by a priest or a faithful parishioner."

Morgan was beginning to become frustrated, "Still if he wants to protect them, why pick a church in East Brooklyn? He could've picked a safer neighborhood."

"Like you said when we were outside, you wouldn't come to this particular church unless you were local." Elena sifted through the file in her hand, "And all the victims where from Brooklyn."

"Our boy is definitely local," Morgan was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. "This is Morgan…Hey Elle…Ok we'll be there." He snapped his cell phone shut and put it back in his pocket. "That was Elle; she said Hotch just got back with something we should see."

Gideon finally got up from the pew and the three agents walked out of the church and hopped into the SUV, all curious as to what exactly Hotch came up with.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Criminal Minds or Without A Trace or the lyrics to 'Jesus of Suburbia'**

**Chapter 6 – The Way That Some People Look In Green**

_Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, New York_

_New York City FBI Field Office, Missing Persons Unit_

Reid stared at the whiteboard, he had written the names, ages, occupations, and residence of all of the victims. He searched diligently for a connection, as he began to talk to himself. "The Robinsons were a 35 year old well-to-due couple who lived in Brooklyn Heights, Paul was a CPA and Claire was a criminal lawyer working for a prominent law firm. They had a four year old son. On the other hand, the Fryes were a young couple struggling to make ends meat living in East Brooklyn. Ethan worked a minimum wage job and Melinda stayed home with their two year old daughter."

The next thing he said was directed towards others, "Anything else we should know about the Fryes?" He turned around to see Danny and Martin begging Elle, who was laughing, to profile them.

Danny stopped to answer Reid's question, "Melinda Frye was a recovering heroin addict."

Reid wrote 'drug addiction' next to Melinda Frye's name and continued to size up the information. He became discouraged and decided to take a seat. Sam was giving Garcia an in-depth tour of the Tech Room so it was only Danny, Martin, Elle, and Reid left in the bullpen.

Reid leaned back in his chair and pretended to read a file when really he was watching Elle interact with the two attractive Missing Persons agents. He wasn't sure if he felt annoyed with the victims that he couldn't connect or jealous that two men they had just met were getting along so astonishingly well with Elle.

She was one of his best friends but he still felt like he only knew Agent Greenaway, sex crimes specialist and not _Elle_. She never talked about herself, about her family or her childhood, all he really knew was that she was born and raised in New York; he didn't even know what part. He felt that even he talks more about himself and his past than Elle does.

Over the past few months, fortunately unnoticed by the rest of the team, he had paid more attention to Elle than usual. He had, subconsciously, memorized everything about her. He loves the way she speaks with extreme confidence when she answers her phone or delivers a profile, he loves the way she threatens to kick Morgan's ass when he teases her, he respects that she won't let the fact that she is one of only two female profilers in the BAU make her feel inferior, he enjoys the way that she usually finishes his sentences and knows almost as many bizarre facts as he does, and she is the only person that plays chess and cards with him every time he asks. He was almost embarrassed by the fact that he had taken note of her scent, her walk, and the way her clothes cling to the curves of her slender body.

Being a high school graduate at age twelve, Dr. Spencer Reid felt like he was reliving that wretched high school experience all over again, pining away for a girl that he could never have.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw Hotch, Viv, and two men he had never seen before enter the bullpen. The strangers were both fairly young looking, one was lanky with blonde hair and a goatee and the other was tall and built with wavy, shoulder length, black hair.

Danny and Martin stood straight up, obviously recognizing them. Elle however didn't notice that anyone had entered the room and began to read over her notes.

Reid got up out of his chair, "Find anything useful?"

Hotch didn't answer him at first, he just asked, "Where's Garcia?"

"Sam took her down to the Tech Room," seeing the look of urgency on Agent Hotchner's face, Martin finished his sentence by saying, "I'll go get her." He took very long strides out of the bullpen and down the hall; he reached the elevator and pushed the button desperately.

Elle finally looked up, "Hotch, what's…" she stopped when her eyes fell upon the stranger with the wavy, black hair. She hopped off of the desk she was sitting on and ran towards him, "Robbie! What the hell are you doing here?" She asked excitedly, she threw her arms around his neck as he hugged her tightly and lifted her up off of the ground.

He laughed and placed her back on the floor, "I'm here to help save your ass!" He flashed his NYPD badge as if he were a cop in a fifties movie.

She punched him in the stomach and gaped at the badge she had snatched from his hand. "You didn't tell me you made detective!"

He laughed again, "I wanted to save it until you came home for your birthday! Besides you never told me you were on Aaron Hotchner's team, and you never told me you had a case in New York."

Elle laughed and looked around at all the clueless faces, "Sorry guys, this is my brother, Robert."

Hotch smiled on the inside but he never let it show. "I had a hunch that there was some relation."

Reid just looked at them stunned. He had no idea that Elle had any siblings. He was about to ask how come she never told anybody when Martin returned with Sam and Garcia.

Seeing Garcia, Hotch immediately returned to the task at hand. "This was sent to Detective Perry's email ten minutes ago." He handed the piece of paper to Reid, and Detective Perry, the lanky, blonde man, passed his laptop to Garcia. She immediately began a trace on the email account while Reid examined the paper. It was a handwritten copy of the lyrics to 'Jesus of Suburbia', with certain words color-coded, underlined, scratched out, and italicized.

Elle turned to Hotch, "Garcia couldn't find a match for the handwriting."

"A minor?" Detective Perry asked puzzled.

"Probably," Hotch said firmly. "Anything Garcia?"

She looked up from the computer screen, "Unsurprisingly the email account was activated this morning and deactivated as soon as the email was sent."

Elle pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, "I'm gonna call Morgan. Tell him and Gideon to get here right away." She walked to an empty part of the bullpen so she could hear the rings go in.

Approximately twenty minutes later Gideon, Morgan, and Elena ran into the bullpen. Elena had never seen the Missing Persons bullpen this busy before. Penelope Garcia was typing non-stop on numerous laptops at the end of the long conference table. Martin, Sam, Jack and Agent Hotchner also sat at the conference table shuffling through files. Jennifer Jareau stood in the middle of the room talking to two men she recognized as Dylan Perry and Robert Greenaway from NYPD, and Agents Reid and Greenaway were scribbling on a whiteboard as Danny read from a piece of paper.

Gideon raced towards the table surrounded by agents, "What's ya got?" He asked out of breath.

Reid turned around to face Gideon, "This," he gestured towards the whiteboard that him and Elle had copied the handwritten lyrics on to, making sure to copy the words exactly as they were on paper, underlined, scratched out and all.

Gideon gazed at the whiteboard and then turned to Jack. "Agent Malone, can I speak to you for a second?"

Jack got up out of his seat and walked towards Gideon, who was now standing in an empty part of the room.

"If you don't mind I would like to take my team to discuss the profile." Gideon wasn't sure if what he had just said came out as a statement or a question.

Jack wasn't quite sure how to take his words either. Instead of attempting to profile a profiler, Jack simply nodded and said, "You can use the interrogation room."

Gideon smiled, in the time he had spent with Agent Malone he had concluded that he is not a man who likes to be kept out of the loop. "We'll be needing the whiteboards." Gideon added as he moved back towards his team.

"Danny and Martin can you guys take the whiteboards to the interrogation room?"

At first, Danny and Martin just looked at Jack blankly, then they stood up and began lifting the whiteboards out of the bullpen and down the hall.

Hotch realized that Gideon wanted to discuss the profile so he decided to give JJ her orders with regards to the media. "JJ, I don't want the fact that our unsub is a minor leaked to the press. During the press conference ignore any references to age."

Hotch turned and looked at Jack, "Your agents and detectives Perry and Greenaway are the only ones who are going to be given the complete profile."


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Criminal Minds or Without A Trace**

**Chapter 7 – The Profile**

_Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, New York_

_New York City FBI Field Office, Missing Persons Unit_

Detective Dylan Perry glanced at his watch, the BAU had disappeared into the interrogation room forty-five minutes ago, leaving the Missing Persons Unit, Detective Robert Greenaway, and himself, to just sit and think. At this point he was starting to become impatient. "What the hell are they doing?" He looked at the others in the bullpen who were also obviously bored out of their minds. Elena mindlessly spun the chair she was sitting in around and around as if she were a child, while Danny, Martin, Samantha and Robert threw a sponge football back and forth. Viv decided to get a head start on a mountain of paperwork and Jack had received a not so pleasant phone call from A.D. Victor Fitzgerald, so he had retreated to his office to take care of that. When he realized that nobody had responded to his question he decided to re-ask it, except louder this time, "WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING?"

Robert laughed as he caught a pass from Danny. "Dude chill, this stuff takes time."

Elena finally stopped spinning; she attempted to stand up but became too dizzy and decided to sit back down. "They are trying to get this on the eleven o'clock news right?"

"Yup," Samantha said simply. "Its only quarter after ten, they'll get it done." They had spent a little over twelve hours with the BAU but Sam already had a very high opinion of them. She had spent the day with, possibly, the three most interesting people she had ever met in her life. Penelope Garcia is amazing with a computer system and has a great sense of humor. She already had a startling amount of respect for Elle Greenaway, who is exceptionally smart, but of course she had to be in order to be a woman in the BAU. And of course then there's Dr. Spencer Reid, the twenty-four year old genius. His brain is filled with interesting information and he is extremely good at his job. But obviously, Detective Perry did not have the same feelings of admiration and respect towards the BAU that Samantha did.

He began to walk around in a circle, "I just don't understand why it's taking this long." He heard Robert scoff; he glared at him and said, "Well then Greenaway why don't you enlighten us."

Robert threw a pass to Martin as he laughed and said, "Ok then, they are taking this long because they want to nail this guy's profile. If something is off we could spend time looking for the completely wrong guy. If they don't take their time and analyze everything than we may never catch this guy until he starts to devolve and get sloppy, and that could take years." The more he explained the angrier he became, "And THAT'S why they're taking so long!"

Perry sneered, "Did your sister teach you that?"

Robert walked forward so that there was less than a foot between him and Dylan. The Missing Persons Unit watched silently and nervously. By the looks of it, Greenaway could tear Perry limb from limb. He was several inches taller and in better physical shape. At first they thought that they were just going to stand there and stare at each other until Perry spoke again.

His voice depicted a very mocking tone, "Oh I'm sorry _Robbie_, I forgot that anybody talking about your sister always gets you goin. My apologies." He laughed as Robert turned away and crossed the room, walking towards Samantha. But before he was out of earshot Perry added in a mumbled voice, "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that she's mixed racial trash."

Robert couldn't even look at him, "What did you just say?" His voice was unmistakably furious.

You could cut the tension with a knife; the Missing Persons agents truly felt that there was going to be, in the best situation, a trip to the emergency room. But luckily for Detective Perry, Jack and the BAU entered the bullpen before anything serious could happen.

As they entered, Jack motioned his agents towards the conference table and Perry and Greenaway followed suit. Greenaway sat beside Garcia and her mini-network of laptops, while Perry sat at the complete opposite end of the table. The Missing Persons Unit positioned themselves so that they had a direct view of the BAU.

Hotch began the profile is his usual authoritative manner, "We have classified this particular unsub as an organized killer. He plans his murders and his escape carefully. There was a month and a half cap between the two killings because he meticulously targets and stalks his victims. He does not commit the crime until he is sure that he knows his target's every move. He brings his own weapons to the crime scene, in this case a gun and a knife. He goes to extreme lengths to cover his tracks and he is forensically aware."

Gideon followed Hotch. He paced back and forth in front of the table, gesturing with his hands, as he always did while he was speaking. "He is very methodical. He is above average intelligence, attractive, and socially competent." Gideon looked at the concentrated faces of the listeners, "As hard as it is to believe he is most likely a minor, he will be your average high school student. He will most certainly be at the top of his class, very popular, and he most likely has a girlfriend and possibly a part-time job that is paid in cash."

Gideon looked at Elle to signal to her to begin the rapist aspect of the profile. "Our unsub is an anger-retaliatory rapist. The sexual attack is an expression of anger and rage because the victim serves as a stand-in for the rapist's real object of hate. This would explain the severe mutilation of the female's body."

"Edmund Kemper," all of the people turned to Reid as he spoke, "might be described as an anger-retaliatory or displaced rapist. He killed eight victims before finally killing the person he wanted to kill the most…his mother."

It was now Morgan's turn. "And our guy will possess certain characteristics of a displaced rapist's personality. For example, his friends would describe him as having an explosive personality. However organized he is he will be impulsive, quick-tempered, and egotistically self-centered. He probably plays some team contact sports and has had disciplinary problems in school that were swept under the rug because he's so intelligent, adding to his belief that he is untouchable."

Once again, Gideon took over, as he was the most experienced of the team. "And last but certainly not least, he comes from a broken home."

Reid started to chime in statistics as soon as Gideon finished his sentence, "Only 57 of sexual and serial killers studied by the FBI had both parents at birth, 47 had their fathers leave before age twelve, 44 reported having a negative relationship with their mother. While a negative relationship with the father or male parental figure was reported by 72 of convicted sex killers."

"In this particular case," Gideon continued, "he resents both parents. His parents' marriage ended recently, which was his stressor. Based on the degree of violence towards the victims, his mother either had an affair or initiated the divorce but he has no sympathy towards the father, most likely blaming his own for not making his mother stay."

Gideon stopped talking and Hotch gestured JJ over. He bent down and almost whispered in her ear, "You got the notes?" JJ nodded and he continued, "Okay go, and remember divert any questions about age." JJ walked out of the bullpen and took the elevator, once again, down to the first floor.

As JJ left, Morgan laughed and said, "Press conference time."

Hotch looked at the tired faces of the people sitting before him, it had been a very long day. "Agent Malone, you and your agents are welcome to leave, as are detectives Perry and Greenaway. That's it for today, we're just going to hang around and wait for JJ."

Jack turned to Elena and Viv, "Yeah you guys should go home, you've got kids. You three can go home too." He said, referring to Danny, Samantha, and Martin.

Danny picked a remote control up off of the table and flicked on one of the overhead TVs. "I think I'm gonna stick around and watch the press conference."

"Yeah me too," Sam added as she too directed her attention towards the television.

"Suit yourselves," Jack laughed as he, Elena, and Vivian, called it a night and left the bullpen.

Gideon, Hotch, Morgan, Reid, and Elle, all of who were standing during the delivery of the profile took seats around the conference table and watched as JJ handled the press with ease.

Her voice was controlled and confident, "Early this morning, the Behavioral Analysis Unit was called in by the Missing Persons Unit of the New York City Field Office to assist in the ongoing investigation of two cases that the NYPD had believed to be connected."

Everybody around the table watched intently as JJ did what she does best.

"Does she always do stuff like this?" Danny asked curiously as he pointed towards the television.

"Yes," Hotch was the one who answered his question, "her specialty is communications."

Morgan laughed and leaned back in his chair, "And I think it's fair to say that we'd be pretty well screwed over if we didn't have her."

Elle laughed, "Umm-hmm."

Once the press conference ended, people in the bullpen slowly filed out. First it was Detective Perry, to the relief of the Missing Persons Unit. Martin was the next to leave followed by Samantha and then Detective Greenaway. Once Danny left with an excited, "See ya tomorrow." Hotch, Gideon, and Elle decided to go downstairs and wait for JJ to finish answering un-televised press questions while Reid, Morgan, and Garcia tied up loose ends in the bullpen.

Reid stuffed a case file into his tan, leather bag as Garcia began shutting down the laptops.

Morgan laughed and turned to Reid, "So…"

Reid looked at him blankly, "So…"

"So I saw you looking at Agent Spade while she was talking to Elle, has someone developed a crush?"

Reid involuntarily blushed and took quick strides out of the bullpen and towards the elevator as he said honestly, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Morgan laughed once again, "Ha ha…"

As he and Garcia exited the bullpen he continued to laugh until she said, "Wow, it's a good thing you've got your looks."

"What?" He asked depicting a mock insulted tone as they stepped into the elevator.

"This is the twelfth floor so if you can figure it out using your magnificent profiling skills before we reach the main floor than I'll give you the cookie I have in my backpack."

"Figure out what?" He asked naively as the bell dinged to signal that they were now on the tenth floor.

Garcia smiled smugly; she was amazed that Derek wasn't able to comprehend that the statement he made about Reid having a crush on one of the Missing Persons agents was completely false. It was pretty clear, to her anyway, that Reid has been harboring feelings for Elle for quite sometime.

"Eighth floor," she laughed, "the cookie is slipping away." It wasn't like she was going to give him the cookie anyway; she just said that so that he had some incentive besides plain male pride.

Derek laughed, "Okay okay, I give up! I have no idea; I bring shame to profilers everywhere! What do you know that I don't?"

Garcia smiled as they reached the main floor and the elevator doors slid open. She walked with poise out of the elevator as she said, "You said that Reid liked Agent Spade, no he doesn't! The answer my fine-looking friend, is right in front of you."

Derek ran over what Penelope had just said to him in his head as Elle walked towards them twirling a pair of car keys around her finger. She smiled, "You guys are ridin' with me."

As they walked towards the FBI provided SUV, he repeated Penelope's words in his head, 'The answer is right in front of you.' He stared absentmindedly out the window as they drove to the hotel. What the hell? Was all he managed to think up for awhile. He hated to profile a friend but he couldn't help but analyze her word choice. Why did she say right in front of you? He had just settled into his hotel room when he thought about who was standing in front of them when she had spoken, he talked out loud to himself, "But that means…no! That means that Reid has a thing for Elle."


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Criminal Minds or Without A Trace or the lyrics of 'Makedamnsure'**

**Chapter 8 – The Stake Out **

_Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, New York_

_New York City FBI Field Office, Missing Persons Unit_

Danny sat at his desk and watched the BAU come into the bullpen. He glanced at his watch; he was surprised by how early they were. Jack, of course, was in his office busy with paperwork but he was the only field agent in the office. He had decided to come in earlier than usual to see if he could be of any help.

"Good morning," he said cheerfully. "How are we this morning?"

Elle laughed as she took off her three-quarter length, black coat and draped it over a chair. "I had forgotten how God damn cold New York is in the winter."

The BAU randomly dispersed themselves throughout the bullpen, Garcia returned to her computers, Gideon stood in front of the whiteboard which still had the lyrics to 'Jesus of Suburbia' written on it, Hotch, JJ and Elle sat at the conference table and began shuffling through files once again, and Morgan and Reid moved towards the break room.

As the BAU got settled, the rest of the Missing Persons Unit and detectives Perry and Greenaway made an entrance.

"I'm getting use to a crowded bullpen," Samantha smiled at everyone as she joined Hotch, Elle, and JJ at the conference table.

"I brought breakfast!" Robert walked towards the table with two brown paper bags in his hands. "Who likes muffins?"

JJ reached towards the bags, "I'll eat anything! _Somebody_ forgot to call me this morning so I missed breakfast." She looked at Garcia with fake anger.

"Hey hey hey! How am I supposed to call you if Elle forgets to call me?"

Hotch looked at the three women and laughed lightly, "Can't you guys set alarm clocks like normal people?"

Everybody laughed and settled into a comfortable mood. Being in the occupations they were in, you almost feel guilty when you have moments of laughter or joy when you're on the job because as you're doing so you're also hunting some delusional psychotic or deranged sociopath.

Morgan heard people laughing from the break room, "Well at least we're all in a good mood this morning. I hate working on cases early in the morning when people are cranky."

Reid ignored his statement, "Morgan, can I ask you a hypothetical question?"

Morgan turned towards Reid and leaned his left hand on the counter. "Sure," he said apprehensively.

Reid continued to stir his coffee; he didn't even bother to look at Morgan as he spoke. "What would you do, hypothetically speaking," he made an extra effort to make sure that Morgan thought that his question was strictly hypothetical, "if you were tempted to cross a professional boundary?"

Morgan repeated his words questioningly, "A professional boundary?"

Reid looked up and nodded. "Umm…for example…a co-worker."

Morgan laughed; he remembered a conversation he had once had with Reid in which he had said that the younger agent should follow his motto of, 'Never mess with a woman who carries a gun'. He considered his response carefully, he had a hunch that this was more than just a "hypothetical" situation, and he didn't want to discourage Reid from having a future relationship because of something he had said.

"Well…" he took a quick sip of coffee from the paper cup he was holding. "I would have to know what kinda consequences I was in for if I crossed this so-called boundary. Would it endanger my job?"

Reid looked down once again, "In this particular hypothetical situation, no. Crossing the boundary would not endanger your job."

"Then, I'd go for it…but only if I knew for sure that it was worth it." Morgan was quite pleased with himself. He felt that he had answered Reid's question perfectly, he hadn't discouraged him but he hadn't encouraged him either, he had forced him to think about it very carefully. He changed the subject smoothly, "Now come on Doc, let's see what the rest of the team is up to."

They walked back into the bullpen just as Hotch and Gideon were handing out today's assignments.

"Elle," Gideon started, "I want you to stake out the church where he left the children, he has some connection with that particular church, he may go back there to ask for forgiveness. Write down a description of everyone you see go in and out of there." Elle nodded and began to gather up case files to take with her. She was in the process of putting back on her coat when Gideon added, "Take Reid with you."

"Hey," she looked up as Robert spoke, "take my car, it won't stand out as much as a bureau issued SUV." He laughed and tossed her the car keys.

"Let's go Reid," she waited for him to shove some papers into his bag and then they left.

Gideon continued to read from his mental list of tasks for the day, "The rest of us are going to figure out exactly who this guy is, where he lives, where he goes to school."

"How are we supposed to figure that out?" Elena asked skeptically.

"The answer," Gideon turned around to face the whiteboard, "is here in these lyrics."

--------------------

Elle and Reid walked across the street from the New York City Field Office. Reid was surprised by how quiet it was, New York seemed like any other city in the morning. It was very cold and the sky was full of dark, grey clouds. "Looks like its going to rain," he observed. Elle glanced upwards as she unlocked her brother's car, a 1999 red Saturn. She opened the driver's door while Reid slid into the passenger's seat. She turned the keys in the ignition and the CD player cut in loudly.

_I'll make damn sure that you can't ever leave  
No, you won't ever get too far from me  
You won't ever get too far from me  
You won't ever get too far from me  
You won't ever get too far..._

Elle reached to turn it down, "Sorry, I should have known that Robert would have something blasting." She turned to Reid and smiled, "So you ready to go to East Brooklyn?"

He laughed, "Umm…I guess…I mean realistically I'd rather not go. I'm a skinny, genius, white boy; I don't think I'd fair to well in East Brooklyn."

Elle laughed, sometimes Reid was just completely adorable. "Oh come on, I grew up in East Brooklyn, it's not that bad."

Reid made a mental note, that was the first time that Elle had ever mentioned where she grew up to him.

--------------------

_Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, New York_

_New York City FBI Field Office, Missing Persons Unit_

Gideon stared at the whiteboard; his gut told him that the handwritten lyrics were clues. The unsub had not sent the lyrics as a message that he wanted to stop killing but as an effort to taunt them. To Gideon, the handwritten lyrics suggested a message of, 'I'm showing you who I am, can you catch me?'

He turned around, "Morgan…"

"Yeah," Morgan looked up from the stack of papers that he had read through numerous times.

"Can you write down every word that's italicized?"

"Sure," Morgan replied slowly. At first, he wasn't exactly sure what Gideon was getting at.

"JJ you take every word that is underlined. Agent Spade could you write down every word that's scratched out?" Samantha nodded and grabbed a blank sheet of paper and a pen. "And Agent Fitzgerald could you do every word in red?"

The four agents began furiously working on their newly assigned tasks. JJ and Morgan realized that Gideon was obviously on to something.

--------------------

_East New York, Brooklyn, New York_

_Across the street from St. Mary's Church_

Reid skimmed through the copy of the initial profile that he had taken with him; he was hoping to expand on it. He was about to reach in his bag for his pen when he realized he had left it on the bedside table back in his hotel room. "Elle do you have another pen I could use?"

At first, she didn't respond to his question. "It's almost eight thirty, we've been here for almost twenty minutes and not one person has gone into that church. What is it like the loneliest church in Brooklyn?" When she realized that she had just rambled and completely ignored his question she turned and said, "Oh sorry, there should be one in the glove compartment."

Reid heard a click as he unlatched the glove compartment door but instead of finding a pen, a pile of newspapers fell onto his lap. He looked through the papers, they were all front page headlines and as he read through them he realized that they were all about the BAU. The headlines included, 'The BAU Puts an End to San Diego's Tommy-killer', 'Palm Beach Bomber Commits Suicide during BAU Investigation', 'First Sniper Caught Using a Profile', there was also an article in Spanish whose headline read, 'BAU Invited by Mexican Government'. Reid was amazed at how Elle's brother had managed to find and keep all of these articles. There was an article for every case Elle's worked on since she joined the BAU.

"Wow, your brother must be really proud of you." Reid held up the stack of papers so that Elle could see, she hadn't noticed them fall out of the glove compartment.

Elle took the papers from Reid and fingered through them. She laughed lightly and talked quietly to herself, "I had no idea he followed my cases. So he did know I was on Hotch's team he just wanted to hear it from me." She laughed again, "He's never gonna hear the end of this…" She stopped talking to herself when she realized that Reid was listening intently, "Oh sorry, you don't need to hear about my family."

"No, I like it when you talk about yourself. You don't usually say many personal things. I didn't know you had a brother until yesterday and I didn't know that you grew up in Brooklyn until this morning." Reid stated sincerely.

Elle could have sworn that she felt pangs of guilt. She knew that she kept her personal and professional lives separate incredibly well but she had no idea that one of her team members and best friends felt like they didn't know her.

She smiled as an idea crossed her mind. "Okay Spencer Reid, one time only, I'm opening myself up to you. Ask me any five questions you want and I will answer them. But only on the condition that I get to ask you questions too."

Reid nodded and smiled, "Fine. But from this point forward everything said does not leave this vehicle."

Elle smiled back at him, "My lips are sealed."

"Okay first question…come on Spencer you're a genius…let's start simple. Full name, birthday, hometown."

Elle laughed, this would be the first time she ever shared personal information with any of her co-workers. "Elle Isabella Greenaway, April 14th, Brooklyn, New York. Well I already know your birthday but I'm intrigued by the possibility of Dr. Reid having a middle name." She laughed as she reminisced on the birthday party the team had thrown for Reid last year at BAU Headquarters.

"Spencer Arthur Reid, February 9th, Las Vegas, Nevada."

"Question two, what was your first impression of me?" Reid blushed slightly. Secretly, he had always wanted to know what Elle had thought of him when they first met in Seattle.

She, once again, laughed and repositioned her body so that they were facing each other. "Honestly?" She continued as he nodded, "When I first met you I was jealous."

Reid's automatic response was, "What?"

"I mean here you were this twenty-three year old genius who was just immediately accepted into the BAU and there I was in Seattle where I had to claw my way up the ranks from junior agent, to supervisory agent of a unit, to supervisory agent in charge. I was just jealous that you had gotten where I wanted to be so bad, so much faster." She briefly stopped and smiled, "But it didn't take long for jealously to turn into respect."

He let out a mild sigh of relief as she asked her question, "Why did you join the FBI?"

He actually had to stop and think about that question. Noticing his silence, Elle elaborated, "I mean you have three PhDs, an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, and you can read twenty thousand words per minute. You could do anything you want, why FBI?"

He ran his fingers through his hair and laughed nervously, "Well this may sound pathetic but I think I decided to join the FBI, the BAU in particular because I knew I'd be appreciated. In any other field of work I would be considered odd but as a profiler I'm valued."

She smiled; in her opinion Reid had no reason for a low level of self-esteem.

"For my third question, I'll stay on the topic of whys. Why did you specialize in sex crimes?" Reid considered not asking this question because he wasn't sure if it was treading on sensitive ground or not.

Obviously, his doubts were in his face because the first thing Elle said was, "Don't worry its not hard for me to talk about. I wasn't a victim of a sex crime and nobody in my family was a victim of a sex crime. I just thought that it was an area that could use more women. After a woman is raped or sexually assaulted she'd definitely talk to a woman before a man." She laughed, "I bet you have statistics on that right."

He nodded and laughed, "Yup. Your question."

"Okay I gotta know…what are your PhDs in?" She had always wondered how someone as smart and intellectually well-rounded as Reid could possibly pick only three fields to concentrate on.

He laughed, "I was wondering when somebody was going to ask me that. Surprisingly, nobody has, not even Morgan. Well Hotch and Gideon know but only because it was on my application. The first PhD I did is in mathematics. The second is in applied physics, and the third is a joint degree in criminology, behavioral science and applied psychology." He watched her gorgeous smile form across her face as he finished speaking. He smiled back at her as he said nervously, "Tell me about your family." He realized that if he asked her this question than he would have to tell her about his family but he didn't care at this point. For the first time in his life, he felt comfortable enough with someone to tell them about his past.

"Technically, that's not a question but I'll reply anyway." Elle brushed her fingers through her long, dark hair as she collected her thoughts. "Umm…my family, what's there to tell? I have five other brothers besides Robert…" She laughed at the look of shock on Reid's face. "Yeah there are a lot of us. Robert is the oldest, then it's the twins, Andrew and Ben, then its Anthony and then me, and Vincent is less than a year younger than I am, and then it's Rafael. My Mom's name is Maria, she's Cuban."

Reid laughed, "That's why your Spanish is so good."

"Sí," Elle laughed, "Mi mama comenzó a enseñarme cómo hablar Español cuando era seises."

Reid smiled as she said, "Yes, my Mom started to teach me how to speak Spanish when I was six," in perfect Spanish. He loved the way that she pronounced the words, he was able to speak many languages but he struggled with their required accents.

"We also went to a church just like that one," she pointed to St. Mary's Church which they were staking out, "every Sunday and the masses were all in Spanish so it didn't take me and my brothers that long to pick up the language."

"What about your father?" The relaxed and enjoyable mood vanished as Reid uttered his question. As Elle's smile faded he said, "Oh I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that."

She shook her head, "Its okay. I've never really ever talked about my Dad; it's been twenty-two years and I've only ever mentioned him around my brothers, nobody else. Even though it was public knowledge it kinda became our little secret, but I guess I've gotta get it off my chest sometime, better late than never."

"He died when I was eight," she paused briefly and ran her fingers through her hair once again. "Do you remember the last time we were in New York City? We were working that vigilante case," he nodded so she continued, "so you remember how that undercover cop was shot and the next morning you guys were all watching his funeral on TV and I wasn't there. Even after twenty-two years, I could not bring myself to listen to those bag pipes and gunshots again. My Dad was an NYPD cop who was shot in a robbery gone bad."

"I'm really sorry," he said sincerely. He laughed awkwardly, "If it makes you feel any better my Dad left when I was ten and I haven't seen him since, and my Mom is a paranoid schizophrenic who is currently living in a sanitarium in Las Vegas."

She looked at him sadly, "Reid, that doesn't make me feel better."

"She's my best friend though, my Mom. I write her everyday. She reads every detail of the cases we work on and she knows all about you guys." This time it was his turn to pause and collect his thoughts, "You wanna know the worst part? The worst part is that I was the one who had to decide whether or not to hospitalize her. She was so sick and I just wanted to help her but she was so mad at me." His voice started to become low and shaky.

"Oh Reid," she said softly as she leaned in and kissed him lightly on the left cheek. She placed her hand on the right side of his face and their eyes locked as she slowly pulled back. She was about to kiss him on the lips when her cell phone rang. She almost leapt back to the driver's side of the car while Reid blushed and turned his head away so that he stared absentmindedly out the window. She fumbled with her phone before she finally managed to open it up and press the 'Talk' button, "Greenaway," she said as calmly as possible. "Oh hey Hotch."

After a couple of minutes of silence on her end she said, "Yeah sure we're on it." She closed her phone and turned back to Reid, "Hotch wants us to talk to Melinda Frye's old dealer, he was out of town when the initial investigation was ongoing. Suspiciously enough, he lives nearby."

"But he doesn't fit the profile," Reid had managed to regain his composure.

"No, but he has a sixteen year old son who might."


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Criminal Minds or Without A Trace**

**Chapter 9 – "Why Do They Always Run?"**

_East New York, Brooklyn, New York_

_Across the street from St. Mary's Church_

Elle and Reid exited the car and walked casually further down the street. Elle stopped in front of a very small house that looked like it wasn't kept up too well. She glanced at the words she had written on the palm of her hand, "This is the address Hotch gave me." They walked up the rickety front steps and knocked on the screen door. Elle removed her FBI identification from her coat pocket as she knocked again and said, "Mr. Bryant, FBI, we'd like to have a word with you."

Reid slowly drew his gun from its holster as he peered in through the door. All he could see was an empty hallway until he saw somebody's shadow run across a wall. "Elle," he whispered, "there's somebody home."

Elle also drew her gun from its holster as they heard a door slam shut from behind the house. "Why do they always run?" She asked annoyed. "I'll take the right side and you take the left."

They raced back down over the unstable steps, with Elle turning left to cover the right side of the house and Reid turning right to cover the left.

Reid moved silently and quickly along the left side of the house which was connected to an alleyway. He was about to turn the corner when a man, who he assumed to be Mr. Bryant, made contact with his arms and knocked his gun out of his hands. It landed on the other side of the alley, out of both their reaches. Once his gun left his hands, Reid automatically punched the man in the face. As the man staggered backwards Reid took a step towards his gun but the man recovered quicker then he expected. He pushed Reid hard from behind into the solid brick wall. Reid twisted last minute and felt his left arm collide awkwardly with the rough, hard surface. He heard bones crack and he fell grudgingly to the ground. The man reached leisurely towards Reid's gun. It was almost in his grasp when they heard, "FBI! FREEZE!" When he heard Elle shout, the man promptly dropped the gun and ran away as fast as he could. Instead of chasing after the suspect, Elle shoved her gun back in its holster and rushed towards Reid. "Are you okay?" She asked concerned.

"He didn't have a weapon," Reid grimaced, "I think my arm is broken though."

Elle hauled her cell phone out of her coat pocket and dialed 911. "This is Special Agent Elle Greenaway; we have an agent down, possibly a broken arm. We're in the alley across from St. Mary's Church in East New York, Brooklyn."

Reid heard the 911 operator say something on the other end but he couldn't make it out. Elle said, "Thank you," and then closed her phone. She looked down at him kindly, "The ambulance is on its way."

--------------------

_Upper Manhattan, Manhattan, New York_

_St. Luke's Hospital_

Reid and Elle arrived at St. Luke's Hospital in an ambulance roughly fifteen minutes after her 911 call. Once the ER doctors had examined him, they decided to send him straight to orthopedics. They had passed Elle his cell phone, gun, badge and identification, and had instructed her to wait patiently in the waiting room.

Morgan and Hotch arrived to find Elle sitting anxiously in the waiting room with Reid's belongings in her lap. By the time they had reached her a nurse was in the middle of relaying a message, "The doctor should be out in a minute so you can go and see him now Mrs. Reid?"

Elle laughed awkwardly, "No, I'm not his wife." She turned to Hotch and Morgan. "Will I go see him and you guys can wait for the doctor?"

Hotch nodded and Elle then followed the nurse towards the examining room Reid was in. Morgan watched as on her way towards Reid's room, Elle passed a doctor who was moving towards them.

The tall, African-American male shook hands with the two agents. "I'm Dr. McGrady. Your agent has a bone broken in his left wrist, a bone broken in his left forearm, and some shoulder bruising. I have his forearm in a full cast and his arm in a sling. The injury will probably take 2-3 weeks to heal. His arm will have to remain in a sling for a week and then he can take it off." Dr. McGrady removed a small, leather covered book from the front pocket of his white coat and began to scribble on it. "I'm prescribing him two weeks' worth of pain killers. Hopefully that will be enough." He tore the piece of paper out of his book and passed it to Hotch.

"Thank you doctor," Hotch said politely as he received the prescription.

Dr. McGrady nodded, "No problem," he replied genuinely and then he walked away.

Morgan looked down the hall to see Elle and Reid walking towards them. "Hey man," he said as normally as possible.

Reid looked up and formed a small smile, "Hey." He turned to Hotch, "Sorry we didn't get to question Mr. Bryant." His voice was nervous and shaky; it was the first time he had felt like he let the team down.

"Reid, its no big deal!" Morgan said supportively.

"And we've managed to rule out his son as a suspect." Hotch placed a hand on Reid's uninjured shoulder, "I'm just glad you're not _seriously_ injured." He paused and looked down at the prescription in his hand. "Come on; let's go get your medication and then we'll go back to the hotel. Gideon will probably be calling it a day back at the office anyway."

"What?" Reid fished around in his pants' pocket for his watch; he had to remove it from his left wrist when it was being examined by the doctor. When he finally managed to find it he was shocked, "Its 7:30!"

Elle laughed, "Yeah, I was sitting in that waiting room for almost five hours!"

Reid was still stunned, "No way have we been at the hospital this long."

Morgan laughed, "Forget about it, now come on, let's go get your meds."

--------------------

_Upper Manhattan, Manhattan, New York_

_Fairmont Hotel_

Reid stood to the side as Elle opened up his hotel room door for him. He felt guilty and useless because she had insisted on carrying his things for him. She pushed the door open with her shoulder, "Okay here we are." She laid his tan, leather bag on the bed along with his gun, cell phone, and identification. She placed his painkillers on the bedside table as she turned around to face him. "Do you want anything to eat; you haven't had anything all day."

He shook his head, "No thanks I'm fine."

"Well if you want anything come and get me, I'm in room 410." She smiled as she opened the door and left.

Reid plopped down on his bed. Even though it was only eight o'clock, he was exhausted. He was too tired to change or turn down his bed so he just fell asleep in the same clothes he had worn all day.

He awoke abruptly in the middle of the night. He glanced at the electronic clock across the room, it read 2:30. There were searing pains up and down his left arm and it didn't help that it itched terribly. He had never played sports as a child or teenager so the most major injury he had had until now was simply an ankle sprain, and that had happened one winter he had spent in Colorado where he slipped and fell in a parking lot.

He tried to get back to sleep but it was no use, so he decided to reach across his bed and open up his bag and read through the case files. There were stacks and stacks of paper, but of course it only took him minutes to read. He read through the missing persons' investigations, the medical examiner's reports, the NYPD homicide investigations and then finally the 'Jesus of Suburbia' lyrics and the BAU provided profile. As he read through the profile something hit him. He had gone to high school at a public school in Las Vegas and there every student was provided with a school ID, but the unsub obviously didn't have one because his signature wasn't on file.

He jumped out of bed and began to pace the room. His revelation meant that the unsub did not attend a public high school which ruled out roughly 75 of teenagers in Brooklyn. So either the unsub is a dropout or he attends a school that doesn't require IDs. He needed someone to bounce ideas off. He looked at the clock again, 2:45. He honestly did not want to wake any of his teammates up at this hour but he felt that he had uncovered an important missing aspect of the profile.

He opened his door as quietly as possible to be considerate towards the people on his floor that were sleeping and crept down the hallway until he stood in front of room 410. He knocked lightly on the door and waited patiently for Elle to answer.

Elle was peacefully asleep in her bed until almost inaudible knocks on her door woke her up. She dragged herself up out of bed and towards the door. She looked through the peephole, "Reid?" She asked herself quietly.

She walked back towards her bed and quickly pulled on a sweater and sweat pants to cover up her tank top and short shorts. She silently ran back towards the door and opened it, gesturing for him to come in.

"Sorry to wake you up," he said sweetly, realizing how tired she looked. She looked very disheveled in her baggy, New York Giants sweater and black sweat pants that had 'FBI' running up the leg.

"Yeah, when I said that if you needed anything you could just come get me I assumed that the invitation didn't apply after twelve."

He looked down at his feet, he felt so guilty for waking her up in the middle of the night.

Immediately recognizing that she had made him feel bad she said, "But it's okay, I assume you have something important to tell me otherwise you wouldn't have come. Am I right?" She laughed softly as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

He smiled and sat down next to her, "I was just re-reading the profile…"

Elle looked puzzled, "At this hour in the night?"

"My arm woke me up," he replied as they both looked down at his left arm that was in a navy blue sling that you could see through his white dress shirt. His sleeve hung loose at his side because his arm wasn't filling it. "Anyway, I was thinking about the fact that our unsub's signature isn't on file and I realized that I went to a public high school!"

Elle was mystified at why he was so excited. "You went to a public high school," she repeated stupidly.

"Yes! And at public high schools student IDs are required!" Reid was becoming more excited with each sentence. "The fact that our unsub doesn't attend a public high school rules out almost 75 of Brooklyn teenagers! So our unsub is either a dropout our…"

Elle cut him off, "Or he attends a private school."

"What?" It was Reid's turn to have a brain lapse. He watched Elle jump off of the bed with a burst of energy and pace around the room.

She stopped directly in front of him, "Reid, I went to a private high school, I didn't have a student ID!"

Reid also jumped off of the bed with excitement, "Elle, do you realize we just narrowed down the profile to only 15 of teenage males in Brooklyn!"

Elle placed both of her hands on his face and pulled him towards her. She kissed him softly on the mouth and almost as fast as she had pulled him in, she pulled back. She turned around so that her back was to him. "I shouldn't have done that," she said quietly.

"What?" Reid was still in a state of shock, he hadn't moved a muscle since Elle had pulled back from the kiss.

She turned back around to face him, "I shouldn't have done that."

"Why?"

She sighed; he looked so cute just standing there. "The most obvious reason is that we work together, and it just wouldn't be good for the team or for our careers in general for that matter." She felt like kicking herself, for almost her whole life all she had thought about was school or work. She hadn't been in a steady relationship with a guy since the day she received her acceptance letter from Columbia University.

Elle laughed, "And I'm a_ lot_ older than you are." She ran her hands through her hair, she was so frustrated. She didn't want to make up reasons why she shouldn't be with Reid; she wanted to just let it happen.

"Well you're only six years older than I am, statistically…" He was about to give statistics on couples who's age differences exceed five years but Elle cut him off.

"Reid now is not really the time for statistics."

He finally budged from his spot and walked towards her, "If I can give you three statistical reasons why you should kiss me again, will you?"

She laughed lightly, "Spencer…"

"Don't laugh; I'm serious, will you?" A small smile broke through on his now serious face. That was the first time Elle had ever called him by his first name.

She threw her hands up in the air, "Okay."

"Okay, first, the success rate for couples who are in the same occupation is almost 65. Secondly, couples who start out as good friends have a 75 chance of their relationship becoming serious." He decided against using the phrase 'ending in marriage' because he didn't want to come on too strong. He paused and searched his encyclopedia-like brain for a third reason. He stuttered a little as he spoke, "And thirdly…I don't care about age."

She inched towards him and said softly, "That doesn't count."

He ran his fingers through her hair as he thought about the prospect of kissing her again. The height difference between them wasn't overwhelming but he still had to bend down slightly in order to reach her lips.

In a bold, un-Reid like action, he wrapped his right arm around her waist and pulled her into him on an angle so that she didn't hit his wounded left arm. He bent down and kissed her intensely. This kiss lasted much longer than the first one and when he let her go her only response was, "So…what are we going to do now?"

He smiled, "I think that I should let you go back to sleep and we'll both think about it and then we'll talk about it sometime tomorrow," he still had his arm wrapped around her as he spoke.

"Well…okay, you are the genius," she smiled as he reluctantly let her go.

She kissed him again as he slipped through the gap he made for himself by opening the door and once again he crept up the hallway as quietly as possible.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Criminal Minds or Without A Trace.**

**Chapter 10 – Wishing and Hoping, and Thinking and Praying, and Planning and Dreaming…**

When Reid returned to his room he figured that he should probably try to get back to sleep, but it was no use. He just lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. Sleep was not overtaking him at all. He couldn't stop thinking about her.

He was in a state of utter shock; they had kissed, three times actually. For once in his life he had actually worked up the courage to do something that he really wanted. They had agreed to "think about it." And that's when it hit him, think about what? He knew what he wanted but he wasn't sure what she wanted.

In fact, he had known what he wanted for a long time; he had just been in denial about it for a while.

When he first met Elle he hadn't really paid that much attention to her. He figured she was just another agent who wanted one of the coveted spots at the BAU, and he didn't really want to get to know her because he understood that the chances of her getting the empty position were slim, she was just one of the thousands of agents that had applied for the job. But as he, Morgan, Hotch, and Gideon, worked with her on the strangler case in Seattle, he realized that it was possible for this woman to be the new member of their team…their family. She was, and still is, a little impatient but she is extremely intelligent and Gideon, more than anybody else recognized that her specialty in sex crimes and her personality traits would complete the BAU puzzle.

When it became clear that she was a permanent member of the team he allowed himself to let his guard down. They talked more on cases and back at headquarters when they were filling out paperwork. Their desks being across from each other enabled them to share many early morning and late night conversations. The more he talked to her, the more he liked her. He had been physically attracted to her from their first meeting but being a child prodigy he, of all people, knew that sexual attraction was the first response but it usually resulted in nothing.

The first time he thought he might actually have feelings for her was when she was involved in a hostage situation in West Texas. He remembered feeling scared and nervous but at that time he rode it off because he thought it was just a natural reaction to someone you worked with everyday being in danger. But as time progressed he found himself thinking about her more and more but he was always afraid to put himself out there. Through high school and university, he had had feelings for girls but none of them reciprocated and therefore he was used to, and expected, rejection.

But this time he had actually taken a risk, and found his feelings, at least for now, returned. On an emotional level, he felt that he was ready for a relationship with her. He wanted it to be open and honest; he didn't want to hide it from the rest of the team, especially Morgan, who he knew, would be suspicious.

The more he thought about his situation with Elle, the more nervous he became. He knew he could handle rejection but he was afraid. He didn't want to sound like a love sick high school boy but he had never felt this way about a girl before. He was also nervous about the possibility of a relationship. He had never had a girlfriend before, so he wasn't exactly sure what "acceptable boyfriend behaviour" was.

His over analysis of the subject must have put him to sleep because that was the last thing he remembered thinking about when he woke up the next morning.

Meanwhile……

As soon as he left, Elle sat down on the edge of her bed with her head in her hands and began to think intensely. She wasn't exactly sure what to think anymore. Its not that she didn't like him because she did, a lot, she just thought it would be better for the both of them if they remained friends. She knew she could control herself to some extent and she had just generally assumed that he would never get up the nerve to do what he just did, but obviously she was wrong.

She was completely surprised by his actions, almost impressed even. She couldn't believe that shy, usually uncomfortable around people, Reid had stood up to her when she said that the first kiss shouldn't have happened.

Deep down she really just wanted to say "screw it" and start something with him but in the back of her mind, like it always was, was her career. She knew that there were no rules against agents of equal status fraternizing but she wondered how it would look. And she knew that that sounded selfish but this was the job that she had worked for her whole life.

She took off her sweater and sweat pants, threw them across the room, and crawled back into bed. She thought that she had finally decided that tomorrow she was going to tell him that they should leave things as they are, but she just couldn't stop thinking about him.

She tried to convince herself that when she had kissed him the first time it was out of excitement, that she had gotten caught up in the moment, but really she new that wasn't true. Even when she told him that it shouldn't have happened, secretly she was wishing that it would happen again. So when he kissed her she was ecstatic. And it didn't hurt that he was a really good kisser.

The more she thought about the kiss, the more she thought about other instances when she had experienced feelings other than friendship towards him. The first was when they were working on the Tommy-killer case. She remembered thinking that it was so cute that he had asked her if knowing the ballad that the unsub left at his crime scenes was weird. The second was when they were working a case in Baltimore that involved organized crime and she and Reid had to spend an entire day cooped up with Garcia in her bunker. Then there was the hostage situation in Texas where he, as he had put it, "totally saved her life." She also loves little everyday things about him. Like how he drinks way too much coffee and how he literally can't help himself from blurting out facts if what someone says triggers something in his brain. He's also smart, handsome, sweet, and completely adorable. Wow! Well she knew one thing, that if she was trying to come up with reasons why she shouldn't start a relationship with him she was doing a really lousy job.

The one memory that she kept coming back to was the Lila Archer stalker case in LA. She remembered feeling ridiculously jealous. The young, gorgeous actress had feelings for Reid and he clearly had similar feelings for her. For Elle, working on that case was when she realized that she wanted to be more than just his friend.

She tossed and turned in her bed, she was making herself frustrated. Her final decision was that when he comes to talk to her about it, she's just going to let it happen. For once in her life she decided that she wasn't going to mentally prepare a speech or plan every last detail, she was going to act on impulse.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Criminal Minds or Without A Trace or the lyrics to 'Jesus of Suburbia'**

**Chapter 11 – The Missing Pieces of the Profile**

_Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, New York_

_New York City FBI Field Office, Missing Persons Unit_

The BAU entered the Missing Persons bullpen as if it were their own. They had become so comfortable in their new surroundings over the past couple of days. Martin walked over and greeted them as they sat down at the conference table. "Good morning," he said cheerily. "How's your arm?" He asked looking at Reid.

"Two broken bones, one in my forearm and the other in my wrist." Reid was distracted by the way the song lyrics were now displayed on the whiteboard. He turned to Gideon and pointed towards it.

"We were working on this yesterday." Gideon got up out of his chair and moved towards the whiteboard.

The lyrics were displayed as follows:

The lines that were italicized were grouped together:

_The Jesus of Suburbia_

_City of the dead_

_City of the damned_

The lines that were italicized in red:

_No one really seems to care_

_I don't care if you don't care. Everyone is so full of shit! Born and raised by hypocrites._

_I don't care!_

_Dearly beloved, are you listening?_

_Nobody's perfect_

The lines that were underlined:

I'm the son of rage and love

Bible

But there's nothing wrong with me

This is how I'm supposed to be

I lost my faith

And I walked this line a million and one fucking times

I don't feel any shame, I won't apologize

Running away from pain when you've been victimized

Tales from another Broken Home

And finally, the lines that were scratched out:

Ritalin

Love

Debt

To alcohol and cigarettes and mary jane

To keep me insane and doing someone else's cocaine

"Home is where your heart is"

Am I disturbed?

Am I retarded?

So I run, I run away

Reid stroked his chin and then turned back to his team members. "He's justifying his actions in the first three groups of lyrics but in the fourth…."

"What?" Gideon asked interested.

"Well one would assume that by scratching out the lyrics than he's telling us that that's what he's not."

"Okay," Elle started tentatively, "so he doesn't take prescribed Ritalin, he isn't experiencing love and he, or most likely his parents aren't in debt. He doesn't smoke, drink, or do drugs, typical teenager," she added sarcastically. "By crossing out 'Home is where your heart is', that shows his anger towards his parents. He obviously doesn't feel bad about his actions if he isn't questioning his state of mind," she said pointing to the lines, "Am I retarded?" and "Am I disturbed?"

"And by crossing out the line 'So I run, I run away' he's saying that he's not going to stop until he's caught," Hotch said almost depressingly.

"I dunno but if he's choosing to use these particular lyrics than he's one angry teenager," added Morgan.

"That's what we have to focus on." The team turned to Gideon as he spoke, "The fact that he's a teenager, he's inexperienced, emotionally unstable…"

Reid just remembered the aspect of the profile that he and Elle had discussed the night before. "Oh, Elle and I discovered that our unsub has to attend a private school." Everyone except Elle looked at him curiously. "Since our unsub doesn't have his signature on file than he couldn't be attending a public school because they require student IDs where as private schools don't and since our unsub is too intelligent to be a dropout…"

"Elle did you go to a private school?" Morgan asked inquiringly. When she nodded he asked, "Which one?"

"I went to Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights."

"You were a Packer Pelican?" Vivian asked surprised.

"Yeah," Elle laughed and turned red at the same time.

"Garcia, how many private schools are there in Brooklyn?" Hotch asked quickly.

"There are," Garcia tapped a few more keys, "six." Hotch gestured for her to elaborate. "Packer Collegiate Institute on Joralemon Street, Saint Ann's on Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn Heights Montessori on Court Street, Brooklyn Friends School on Pearl Street, Poly Prep Country Day School on Prospect Park West and Seventh, and the Berkeley Carroll School on Carroll Street and Lincoln Place."

"Are all of them high schools?" Asked Reid.

"Nope, Brooklyn Heights Montessori only goes up to grade eight." Garcia answered after sending the computer more commands.

"Okay we're down to five. Can you get into the student directories?" Asked Morgan hopefully.

Garcia looked up and smiled, "You bet I can honey!"

"Excellent," Reid said excitedly. "We're looking for a left-handed male, aged fifteen to eighteen, without a driver's license or permit."

The room full of people focused on Garcia as she typed furiously. "I narrowed down your list of 12,000 to 264."

"That's my girl," Morgan said proudly. "Start printing."

Elle stretched in her chair, her body felt so tense. She had been sat in the same exact position since she came in. She decided to take a break before Garcia finished printing the list of potential suspects. "Guys I gotta take a walk and stretch my legs." She got up out of her chair and walked towards the break room.

Reid watched her walk away. Since he had woken up this morning all he wanted to do was talk to her. He couldn't take it anymore so he searched his brain for a believable excuse to leave the bullpen. He looked down into his empty coffee mug, "I'm going to go and get more coffee." He followed Elle towards the break room.

She saw him enter the room through the corner of her eye but she didn't acknowledge him. She was actually surprised at how nervous she was to talk to him. He laid his mug on the counter only as a source of noise so that she would notice him. She looked up as the ceramic mug hit the countertop.

"Elle," he started hesitantly, "we should probably talk about that thing."

Elle looked around; you couldn't see the bullpen from where they were standing but the break room was actually a very open spot. She gave him a look as if to say "not here".

Reid looked past her, in the direction of the other exit from the break room. He walked towards it and gestured for her to follow him. They had only walked a short distance down a hallway when he stopped and opened a door. He let Elle enter first, and then he followed her, closing the door behind him.

He had taken her to a small room with filing cabinets covering three walls; there were no windows and only one door. Martin had showed him the filing room the first day they were here.

Reid stayed in front of the door while Elle leaned on one of the cabinets. He looked at her from across the tiny room with big, puppy dog eyes, but she was determined not to express her feelings first.

After a few moments of complete silence, he finally gave in. "So about what happened last night…" She nodded slowly, encouraging him to say more. "I thought about it…did you think about it?"

She nodded once again, "Yeah, I did," she replied uneasily.

"I umm…" he ran his right hand through his hair awkwardly. He honestly had no idea what he was doing; he had never done anything like this before. Because of his lack of experience he decided to stop beating around the bush and come right out and say it. "I can't stop thinking about you."

She said nothing. Instead she walked across the room and pushed him lightly up against the door, she was very careful to avoid his injured arm. She pulled down on his tie and kissed him passionately.

Unbeknownst to them both, they were both experiencing similar emotions. They both felt relieved, excited, and shocked, but most of all they both felt that they were now entering uncharted territory.

Once she pulled back from the kiss, she looked up at him and said, "I think that we should keep this between us, at least for now."

Honestly, he didn't want anything to ruin the moment so he just nodded and said, "Okay."

She gestured for him to leave the filing room first and she followed him back to the bullpen a few minutes later. She found Hotch, Morgan, Gideon, JJ, Reid, Garcia, Samantha, Martin, Danny, Elena, Vivian, Jack, her brother, and Detective Perry, shifting through files with a large stack of papers in the middle of the conference table.

Garcia looked up from the sheet she was perusing just in time to see Reid "inconspicuously" watching Elle. She turned her computer screen slightly towards JJ and typed 'I think I smell an office romance brewin.' JJ held in a laugh and looked at Garcia as if to say 'What?' when Elle took a seat between Morgan and Hotch and asked, "Anything?"

Martin shook his head, "Not so far."

"Ooo, I might have one," said Elena excitedly. "Peter Roberts, sixteen, captain of the rugby team, parents divorced almost three months ago, works at a mini-mart in East New York."

"What's his grade point average?" Gideon asked questioningly.

Elena looked further down the page and sighed, "Only 2.2." She threw the paper in the 'definitely no' pile and took another off of the large stack.

Danny spoke next. "Gabriel Downs, seventeen, 3.5 GPA, lives with his mother."

Gideon shook his head, "No, our unsub's mother has definitely left his life. He lives with his father."

The group remained silent until Hotch came across the sheet of Darren Clark. "Darren Clark, eighteen, 3.9 GPA, middle linebacker on the football team, parents' divorce became final on January 1st, he lives with his father in Brooklyn Heights, and his grandmother lives in East New York."

Elle smiled, "Parents' divorce became final almost two weeks before the murders of Paul and Claire Robinson and he has an excuse for whereabouts in both Brooklyn Heights and East New York."

"Sounds like our guy," Morgan said simply.

"Which school does he go to?" Jack asked.

Hotch looked at the emblem on the top of the page. "Packer Collegiate Institute."

Vivian glanced at her watch, "It's a little past ten. He's in school right now."

"Samantha, call and see if he's in today," Jack ordered.

Samantha pushed her chair on wheels over towards her desk and began dialing numbers on her phone. She disguised her voice, "Hello this is Darren Clark's cousin, is he in school today?" She received a quick response, hung up the phone, and then turned back to her fellow agents. She nodded, "He's in English class right now."

"Samantha, take Agent Jareau down to the third floor and get a warrant to search his house," Jack said while looking at Gideon.

Gideon turned to Hotch, "Take Elle and Agent Fitzgerald with you, bring him in."


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Criminal Minds or Without A Trace**

**Chapter 12 – Darren Clark**

_Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York_

_Packer Collegiate Institute_

Hotch, Elle, and Martin walked down the long hallway towards the principal's office. Elle's heels made loud, echoing clicks as she walked. She was amazed at how everything had remained the same. The school was in pristine condition, as always, only the most luxurious cars were in student parking, and they still hadn't changed the uniforms. They had passed a girl when they entered who wore the same black skirt and pantyhose, black blazer, and burgundy blouse that she had worn almost every day for four years. Walking down the familiar wooden hallway brought back memories for Elle. In high school she had been an outsider. At a prestigious school in Brooklyn Heights there weren't many kids who came from single parent, lower class homes in New Lots. Even though she had actively participated in almost everything the school had to offer she was never fully accepted by her peers. She had very few real friends in high school.

They reached a closed door that had Principal Colin Trott written on the placard. Hotch knocked steadily twice and quickly afterwards a short, middle-aged, red haired man answered the door. "Hello," he greeted them with surprise; he had no idea who the three people who stood before him were.

"I'm Special Agent Hotchner; these are Agents Greenaway and Fitzgerald." The three of them flashed their badges at the same time. "We'd like to ask you a few questions about one of your students."

"Sure, come in." He opened the door and the three agents entered the roomy office.

"We'd like to ask you a few questions about Darren Clark," Hotch said calmly.

The principal smiled at Darren's name. "Darren is a model student. He's exceptionally bright, top of his senior class, he's on the football team, he has a lot of school spirit…"

Martin stopped him, "Any disciplinary problems?"

The principal frowned sadly, "Before I became acting principal here, Darren was involved in an incident with another boy, a typical school fight."

"Any suspension or detention?" Elle asked although she thought she already knew the answer.

"I believe the boys were given warnings because they were both first timers, but no, nothing was put on their permanent records."

"What can you tell us about his parents?" Hotch asked routinely.

"They're divorced, he doesn't seem to have a positive relationship with either of his parents, they didn't come to the last parent teacher conference."

Martin and Elle exchanged looks with Hotch and then he said, "We'd like to take him to the FBI field office and ask him a few questions."

The principal looked suspicious and concerned but he slowly said, "Okay. I'll take you to him."

Hotch then followed Principal Colin Trott out the door.

Meanwhile……

_Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York_

_Home of Darren Clark_

Morgan looked around at the typical teenage boys' room. There was a desk with a computer on it in the corner, the walls were covered with pictures of half-naked women, and there was a shelf full of sports trophies. The room was dark, the walls were painted black and the blind was pulled down, and untidy, there were articles of clothing scattered all over the floor.

"Almost like his room is an eyesore compared to the rest of the house," Danny spoke as he entered the room along with Elena.

Morgan continued to scope out the room. "If I was a teenage serial killer where would I hide my connections to the crime?"

Elena put on her latex gloves and moved towards the bed. "It may be too obvious but under the bed and desk drawers would be the first places I would think of." She knelt down and stuck her head under the bed. She pulled out a small container and took off the lid. "Well I guess obvious is good." She showed Danny and Morgan the contents of the container. There were candid shots of the Robinsons and the Fryes, the work schedules of Claire and Paul Robinson, and Ethan Frye, and day care schedules.

Danny walked towards the computer desk and began to snoop around. "Homework, scholarship applications, football practice schedule…" He tugged on a computer desk drawer, it was locked. He hauled a pocket knife out of his back pocket and jimmied the lock open. The desk drawer flew open and inside he found a small wooden box. He carefully opened it up. "Guys look at this…" He picked up the four wedding rings and an engagement ring that were inside.

"According to Melinda's Mom she never got an engagement ring, they eloped." Elena said sadly.

Morgan looked at the two Missing Persons agents. "I think we got what we came for."

--------------------

_Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, New York_ _New York City FBI Field Office, Missing Persons Unit_

The BAU and the Missing Persons Unit gazed through the two-way mirror at Darren Clark. He was a tall, bulky, white, average looking male; he had died, black hair and piercing, blue eyes. He was slouched over in the chair in the interrogation room playing with the burgundy tie that went with his school uniform. He looked bored and disinterested, and he did not seem scared or on edge.

"This is a BAU interrogation," Jack said sternly. "Our job is done." He gestured his team out of the room and turned back towards Gideon before he left. "We'll be watching with Garcia in the bullpen, you know where to find us." Gideon nodded and then Jack exited the room leaving Gideon, Hotch, Morgan, Elle, and Reid pondering over how to approach the interrogation.

"We have enough evidence to hold him but we still need a confession and he hasn't asked for a lawyer," Gideon stated while still staring at the unsub.

"So he kills the parents and leaves the kids because he has a bad relationship with his folks and believes that these kids will be better off without them?" Morgan asked confused.

"Exactly," Gideon answered simply.

Morgan laughed lightly and asked sarcastically, "Okay, so who wants to go in there and tell their sob story?"

Everybody turned and looked at him. "Maybe that's not a bad idea," Hotch said looking at Gideon. Gideon nodded and opened the door to the interrogation room, the rest of the team followed.

"I'm Special Agent Jason Gideon, and this is my team, Special Agents Aaron Hotchner, Elle Greenaway, Derek Morgan, and Dr. Spencer Reid." Darren Clark didn't make eye contact; he kept his head down and continued to play with his tie.

Morgan walked over and sat on the metal chair across from Clark. "We have enough evidence to convict you, so why don't you just tell us why you did it."

He looked up and smirked, "You guys are the profilers why don't you tell me why I did it."

Gideon began to pace across the room. "You have a very poor relationship with your parents. Your mother cheated on your father and then asked for a divorce, you hardly speak to her or your father anymore, even though you live in his house."

"My mother is a bitch and a whore, and my father is a stupid coward, what's your point?"

"You killed two married couples because you thought that they made poor parents. Paul and Claire Robinson had jobs that took up all of their time, how were they supposed to take care of a child? And the Fryes were struggling to get by because Melinda was a heroin addict."

Reid placed a piece of paper in front of Clark. "You'll be better off I promise," he said solemnly.

Morgan forced Clark to look him straight in the eye. "But what you don't realize Darren is that you have no right to judge these people you don't know, and trust me, nobody is better off without parents."

"I would have been, and how would you know?" He asked angrily.

"My Dad died when I was ten…"

"Mine when I was eight," Elle spoke for the first time.

"Mine died from lung cancer…Yes, I was older but it doesn't change how you feel." Hotch said, they were all attempting to appeal to some hidden remorse.

"Well that's nice," Clark said mockingly. "But did any of your parents leave you out in the cold? There's quite the difference between being dead and being alive and just deciding not to have any contact with your only child."

Reid walked towards the table. "My Dad left me and my mother when I was ten, I haven't heard from him in almost fifteen years."

"Yeah, and Melinda Frye would have left her family for drugs and Paul Robinson was having an affair with his secretary so he would have left his family too! The best decision that could have been made for those kids was when I shot their fathers and cut up their mothers!" Clark hadn't been able to control himself; he jumped up out of the chair and started screaming; now he was curled up in a ball on the floor, crying his eyes out.

All the members of the BAU looked sadly at each other. Hotch and Morgan walked over to him and picked him up off of the floor. Hotch snapped his handcuffs on him and they exited the room, followed by the rest of the team.

Hotch and Morgan handed him over to two cops that came over from NYPD. Detective Perry and Elle's brother, Robert, were also waiting for them. "We got the interrogation tape and the boxes of evidence from Agent Jareau," Robert said as his sister approached him.

"Good," she said grimly. "Just in my opinion I wouldn't prosecute him all the way, no jury will fully convict him once he 'explains' himself."

"So what would you go for?" Robert asked curiously.

"Hospitalization."

--------------------

It was late in the night and the BAU were finishing getting their things together. NYPD had taken Darren Clark over to headquarters where he would spend the night until they checked him into a psychiatric hospital.

"It was a pleasure working with you," Jack said as he shook the hands of Hotch and Gideon.

Gideon smiled, "Likewise."

"What time will you be leaving the city tomorrow?"

"Probably early evening, we're giving the team a little bit of a break, they deserve it." Hotch said as he watched Elle, Morgan, Reid, JJ, and Garcia say their goodbyes to the Missing Persons agents.

Jack laughed, "Yes, yes they do."


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Criminal Minds or Without A Trace**

**Chapter 13 – 'There's No Such Thing as Fun for the Whole Family' – Jerry Seinfeld**

_Upper Manhattan, Manhattan, New York_

_Fairmont Hotel_

Elle heard hard, steady knocks on her hotel room door. She turned over in her bed and stared at the clock. "You are not serious? It's 6:00!" She said angrily to herself. She forced herself out of bed and opened her door. She was surprised to find her older brother looking back at her smiling. "Robbie you are so lucky my gun is on the opposite side of the room right now! It's 6:00!"

He walked past her and into the dimly lit room; the morning sun was barely coming through the curtains. "Oh come on Elle, you're delighted to see me this early."

She closed the door and turned around to face him, "What do you want?"

He laughed, "Now I know you're not a morning person, but is that anyway to talk to your eldest brother who, before this surprise visit to New York, you hadn't seen in almost five months."

She felt guilty by the time he had finished talking. Since she had joined the BAU she hasn't gotten to spend as much time with her family as she'd like. She smiled, "There must be some reason for this early morning visit."

"Actually, I was wondering if you want to come running with me." She looked at him; he was dressed appropriately for an early morning run. He wore a black, hooded sweater and sweat pants, and a black tuk. "Come on," he pleaded, "spend some time with me."

She laughed, "Fine! If you're gonna be such a big baby about it. Let me change first." She walked towards her suitcase.

"Yes, you do that. I wouldn't want to go outside in New York in the winter time in what you're wearing either." He laughed, referring to her usual sleep wear, a tank top and short shorts.

She pulled her black; 'FBI' sweat pants and a navy blue, hooded sweater out of her suitcase and walked towards the bathroom.

--------------------

Elle and Robert started to jog down an empty New York City street. They had decided to take his usual morning route. It was very sunny but it was chilly. The snow was sprinkled heavily on peoples' front lawns but the streets and sidewalks were clear.

"So how's Lisa?" Elle decided to start the conversation by asking her brother how his wife, her sister-in-law, was.

"She's good. She's on a business trip in Boston right now; she'll be back next week." He laughed, "I gotta ask, do you have a boyfriend?"

She stopped in her tracks, just as they were about to turn a corner. "Sort of…"

He stopped too and laughed once again. "How can you 'sort of' have a boyfriend? Either you do or you don't."

She rolled her eyes, "Fine I do," she paused, "I guess…"

"Well it's about time!" He teased. "Who is it?"

She started to jog again. "That doesn't matter."

He raced to catch up with her, "Is he back in D.C? Or is he here, a certain doctor perhaps?"

He laughed at the look on her face as she stopped once again.

"What?"

"Oh come on Elle, I've only known you your whole life, I think I can tell when you like somebody. You should bring him to dinner."

"What?" She asked once again.

"Oh sorry I forgot to tell you," he smacked himself on the forehead before he spoke. "I told Mom that you were flying out at six, so she wants to have dinner for lunch and she wants you to come." He paused briefly, "Anthony and Vince are comin too…"

She smiled, "Yeah okay, what's she having?"

"Chile," he said simply. He smirked at her, "So are you gonna bring Reid?"

"Umm…I dunno," she pondered her brother's question thoughtfully. "We've only been…umm…more than just friends…for like two days. It probably isn't a good idea." She stared at him, "Since I moved away I've never brought a guy home, how would that look to Mom?"

She watched her brother stop abruptly. "Well look at that, we're back at the hotel." He gazed up at the tall, glass building. "I'll walk you back to your room."

They reached Elle's room and she pulled her key card out of her sweater's pocket. "Well thanks for making me run with you," she said smiling. "I needed the fresh air."

He smiled back, "No problem. Okay, it's almost eight o'clock now, so I'll see you at Mom's in like four hours."

She nodded, "Yup."

He smiled, "Think about bringing Reid."

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up!" She said as she pushed open her door and watched him walk down the long hallway towards an elevator.

She was so excited that she was going to her Mom's for lunch. She hadn't seen Vincent in almost half a year and she hadn't seen Anthony in even longer than that. Sure, it was sad to be in the house she had grown up in but it was also nice to reminisce on some of those old memories. As for her brother's suggestion of bringing Reid, she'd love to but she thought he would never in a million years say yes.

She took her hair down from the loose ponytail it was in and pulled her sweater up over her head and threw it on the floor. She moved towards the bathroom and was about to take off her tank top when she heard a knock on her door.

She flung her door open, "Robert I told you, I'm not…" she stopped in mid-sentence when she realized that it was Reid, not her brother, who stood in the doorway.

He smiled, "Good you're up. I was afraid I was waking you up again."

She smiled back, "Come in." He walked slowly into the room and laughed at all of the clothes on the bed and the floor. Realizing that he noticed her mess she said, "Sorry it's so messy, I just got back from running with my brother and I was about to take a shower."

"That's okay," he said sweetly, "it doesn't matter." He put his right hand in his pocket and swayed back and forth anxiously.

"Something wrong?" She asked noticing his change in behavior.

"Well I was wondering…since we're flying back at six…I was wondering if you wanted to go out for lunch."

"Aww, I'd love to but I can't." She watched his smile fade quickly. "I'm going to my Mom's for lunch."

"Ohh," he said disappointedly, "well that's okay."

She looked at him kindly, "You know you can come if you want." 'Crap!' She said silently to herself. She had just made a really big mistake; she knew she was making him uncomfortable.

He looked at her as if to say, 'can you repeat that?' But instead he responded right away, "Okay," he said cheerfully. He had decided to say yes because every other decision he had made so far with regards to Elle would be what most would call, "unlike him", so he decided to follow the trend.

"Really?" She asked bewildered. She could not believe that he had said yes. He nodded to confirm his statement. "Well okay then," she said happily, "I'll come and get you at like twelve."

--------------------

Elle glanced at her watch, it was 11:50, and as far as she was concerned they were running ahead of schedule. She knocked lightly on Reid's hotel room door. He answered it quickly and told her to come in. He wore his usual dress pants and dress shirt with a tie. His dress pants and tie were brown and his dress shirt was plain white. His left sleeve hung loose awkwardly at his side because of the fact that his arm was in a sling. He had decided to slick back his hair because of its increasing length.

"Your look adorable with your hair slicked back."

"Does it make me look older or younger?" He asked nervously. He didn't even wait for a response before he asked another question, "You're bringing your gun?"

Elle looked down at her gun in its holster around her waist. "We're still technically on duty…"

Reid strode across the room and grabbed his gun. He placed it in its holster and snapped it into place on the waist line of his dress pants. Once he was finished, he looked up at Elle who stood in the center of the room with her hands on her hips glancing around absentmindedly. She looked so pretty, she had on dark, blue jeans and a black, zip-up, hooded sweater. She had to keep pushing her long, dark, straightened hair out of her face. She laughed lightly as she turned and caught him staring at her, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," he replied almost embarrassedly.

--------------------

Elle pulled into her driveway slowly. She was completely oblivious to Reid's apparent nerves and curiosity. He wasn't sure of their exact location in New York. He knew that they were somewhere in Brooklyn but it definitely wasn't an upper-class neighborhood.

"Where are we?" He asked curiously as they exited the car.

"We are in New Lots, Brooklyn," she said with great pride.

'Awe', he thought to himself. Now he knew the neighborhood, it is part of Brooklyn Community Board 5. The population is largely African-American and Hispanic.

Elle's home was a small, two storey house. It had light blue siding, a front door at the end of a small flight of steps, and two upstairs rooms were visible from the front view. They had a small front lawn and a flower bed close to the house that was currently covered because of the winter season.

Elle led the way up the steps and opened the screen and steel doors slowly. Once inside the house they were met by an excited golden retriever.

"Hi baby," Elle said as she bent down to pet the dog. Most dogs hated Reid for some unknown reason but surprisingly, he did not bark menacingly at him, but instead rubbed into him affectionately. "Reid this is Riley, he's a big sook."

Upon hearing the dog's reaction, Elle's oldest brother, Robert, walked out into the porch to meet them. Robert smirked at Elle as he glanced at Reid, "Hey Reid, nice of you to come."

Reid was about to reply but he was interrupted by a voice from upstairs. "Robert who is it?" Questioned an unknown female voice in a faint Spanish accent.

"It's just Elle Mom," Robert yelled.

They all heard a delighted scream and then saw a tall, thin, Cuban woman in her early fifties running down the flight of stairs directly in front of them. She reached Elle and hugged her tightly, kissing her on the cheek. She mumbled something in Spanish that Reid couldn't quite pick out, he was still amazed at how much Elle looked like her Mom.

Elle's Mom pulled back from the hug and looked at Reid interested. "And who is this?"

"Mom," Elle began, "this is Spencer Reid."

Elle's mother smiled at him warmly, "Well nice to meet you Spencer." She looked back at Elle and then said annoyed, "Honey you know the rule about the gun."

"Oops," Elle laughed. She walked into the living room and Reid followed. She moved towards a large hutch on the back wall. She opened one of the doors and placed her gun on the bottom shelf. Reid did the same thing. "Sorry, she makes me do this every time I come visit."

She walked back towards the middle of the room and sat on one of the large couches, with Reid sat nervously beside her. Once she was comfortably seated, Riley, who is a fairly large dog, jumped on top of her and started licking her face.

Robert took a seat on the couch adjoined to theirs and was about to start a conversation when a man Reid had never seen before barged through the front door.

He was tall and built, very much like Robert, but he had short, blonde hair. He wore what looked to be a surgical intern's scrubs. At first he only saw Robert, "I scrubbed in on this wicked surgery this morning man!" He became even more excited when he saw Elle, "Come here!" Elle pushed Riley off of her and ran towards her older brother who had now made his way into the living room. "I haven't seen you in a year; I was beginning to think that my only sister had disappeared off the face of the earth!"

"Sorry," she said apologetically as she hugged him. "Its not like we have the most desired careers when it comes to vacation time."

He laughed, "This is true, I'm busy saving peoples' lives and you're hunting down psychopaths!" He laughed and hugged Elle again. "Have you gotten prettier?"

"Shut up," Elle replied embarrassed.

"No, I'm serious, and you've lost weight! How about you eat somethin!" He stopped joking around with Elle when he saw Reid.

Robert noticed the confused expression on his brother's face. "Oh Anthony, this is Dr. Spencer Reid."

Reid stood up and shook his hand, "Anthony Greenaway, nice to meet you." Anthony turned back towards the direction of the porch and yelled, "Mom, I'm gonna go upstairs to clean up okay?" When both Elle and Reid sat back down on the couch on the opposite side of the room, Anthony mouthed to Robert, "Who is that guy?"

"He works with Elle," Robert mouthed back.

"No way! That scrawny, little guy is FBI!" Anthony mouthed shocked.

Robert nodded and Anthony ran up the stairs to change. The funny thing about Elle's home was that their mother hadn't changed a thing since the day that her last child moved out, so all of their belongings were still in the house.

Anthony was just coming back down the stairs in baggy jeans and a plain, black t-shirt when another man Reid had never seen before walked into the living room. He resembled Robert very much. He was the same build as the other two men, tall and in good physical shape. He had short, dark hair and dark brown eyes. Reid also noticed that he had Elle's smile. He wore jeans and a dress shirt and tie, much like the one Reid was wearing.

"Vinnie!" Robert and Anthony screamed in unison.

"Hey guys," he laughed as his older brothers ran and jumped at him. "You know I love ya but let's face it, I'm only here for Mom's cooking!"

"What? You didn't want to see your older sister?" He heard a familiar voice ask from behind his brothers.

He pushed them out of the way so that he could see her. "Hey Ellie," he laughed as he hugged her. "I missed you." It was not very hard to tell that Elle and her younger brother were very close, it was most likely due to the small age difference, there wasn't even a year between them.

Elle was about to make her way back to the couch when she heard her Mom call out from the kitchen, "Ellie can you come here and help me?"

She looked back at Reid as she left the room; she knew that the last thing that he wanted was to be left alone with three of her brothers.

Once she entered the kitchen she could hear Robert say, "Vinnie this is Spencer Reid, he works with Elle."

She also heard Anthony add, "I believe he had a doctor in his title." But after that everything said was inaudible.

"I'm Vincent," Elle's younger brother introduced himself as he sat down on the couch next to his two brothers, opposite to Reid.

There was an awkward silence until Robert attempted to politely start a conversation, "So Reid how long have you and Elle worked together?"

"Over a year now," he responded a little uncomfortably. He couldn't help but feel that he was about to enter a session of twenty questions.

"How old are you?" Vincent asked suspiciously.

"I'll be twenty-five next month."

Anthony attempted to relieve the pressure on Reid. "What happened to your arm?"

Reid appreciated Anthony's change of subject. "A potential suspect's father pushed me from behind into a brick wall. I have a broken bone in my wrist and one in my forearm."

"The doctor told you that it should be healed in two to three weeks right?" When Reid nodded Anthony smiled. "At least I retained something from orthopedics. What hospital did you go to?"

"St. Luke's."

Anthony nodded, "Good hospital, I'm doing my internship there."

"Are you sleeping with our sister?" Vincent asked randomly.

"Whoa Vinnie, calm down," Robert said sensibly.

Vincent turned to Robert, "Oh come on Rob! If this guy is feelin' up Elle, among other things…wouldn't you wanna know so that you could beat the crap out of 'em?"

Reid looked across at Robert nervously. He wasn't naïve enough to believe that he stood a chance against Elle's brothers. All three of them were at least 6'3", which was taller than he was, and they were all very built and visibly strong.

Fortunately, he was saved by Elle's Mom. She entered the living room and announced that lunch was ready.

The meal was very tasty. Elle's Mom was a fantastic cook. The atmosphere could have been more comfortable, Reid could see Vincent shooting him dirty looks out of the corner of his eye. He liked to think that Robert and Anthony didn't hate him as much but he wasn't sure. He enjoyed watching Elle catch up with her brothers, they were obviously very close. Out of these three brothers, Anthony was definitely the one that Elle's personality resembled the most. He seemed very smart and sarcastic. Physically, Elle looked a lot like Vincent. He had the same exact eyes and smile as she did.

"Where is your washroom?" Reid asked once they were finished eating.

"Take a left once you go up the stairs and it's the second door," Elle's Mom answered him smiling.

Reid walked away from the table and followed Mrs. Greenaway's directions. He was about to enter the washroom when he stepped back and gazed into the room he had initially passed.

He walked in curiously. The room was small; there was a single bed against the wall on the right and a window directly across from the door. Below the window was a desk with a lamp and picture frames on it. He examined the pictures closely, there were six. The first was of a very young Elle, probably four or five, with a man who looked just like Robert holding her tightly in his arms. Reid assumed the man to be Elle's father. The second was a picture of a teenage Elle with Anthony in his high school graduation robes. The third was of Elle and Vincent. It looked to be taken after Vincent had won some form of sports award because he wore a tuxedo and held a plaque and trophy while Elle showed off a bright red jersey with 'Wildcats' embroided on it across the frame. The fourth was a headshot of a handsome, young man with short, dark hair and bright, green eyes. He wore a United States Army uniform and there was an American flag in the background. The fifth picture was of a young Elle smiling and holding a baby in her arms, and the final picture was a professional looking portrait. There were seven of them, Elle and her six brothers. She looked to be in her early twenties when the picture was taken so it was not recent. He recognized Robert, Anthony, and Vincent smiling at him and one of them was the young man with the green eyes from the previous photo but the other two were strangers to him. One of them strongly resembled the unknown "military man" except that he had short, blonde hair and dark, brown eyes, and the other was shorter than his brothers and looked to be only a teenager. He had dark, wavy hair like Robert and a beaming smile.

The most interesting part of the tiny space was the large bookcase that covered most of the left wall, except for where there was a small closet. Reid studied all of the shelves intrigued. The top shelf was covered with A-Z encyclopedias. The second contained school books for subjects such as history, chemistry, biology and physics. At the very bottom were classic works of literature such as a book of Shakespeare plays, 'Animal Farm', and 'The Lord of the Rings Trilogy'. In the very middle of the bookcase were three shelves filled with texts on psychology and behavioral science, and studies of serial killers and sexual crimes.

Reid was just about to reach for a book when he heard a voice behind him. "I see you found my old room."

He turned around to find Elle laughing. "I'm sorry," he replied embarrassed.

"It's okay, no big deal."

Reid turned back to the bookcase relieved. "Did you read a lot when you were younger?"

Elle scoffed, "No, but I studied a lot." He looked at her confused. "I realized when I was really young that the only way I was going to get to university was to study my ass off, so I did."

Reid was still confused, "But you're so naturally intelligent."

She laughed, "Yeah I knew that I had the grades to get in but we didn't have the money so I tried to get a scholarship." She sat down on her bed as she began to tell him the whole story, "See after Dad died Mom had to work two jobs just to feed us so there was no extra money. Robert worked part-time all through high school and ended up saving up enough money to pay his way through community college. Then there was Ben who had tuition bills from NYU. Anthony was lucky enough to get a full academic scholarship to Yale but Yale's out of state, so Mom had to pay for his housing and to get him back home for holidays and stuff. So there was very little left in our savings account, so I worked my ass off in high school in an attempt to get a scholarship so that whatever Mom made could go to Vincent and Rafa's education. She laughed, "I did hours on end of community service, participated in science fairs; I was on the student council, school newspaper, and debate team." She laughed, "I played varsity sports." She laughed again, "The ironic part was that I didn't even get a university scholarship but I lived here and," she paused slightly, "and worked all through university, so in the end I paid my tuition bills and had a little left over for my younger brothers." She had decided against telling him exactly what she did to pay for university, instead she had decided to use the term "worked", even though she wasn't entirely sure if that's what she'd call it. She saw modeling more as just standing in front of a camera, getting your picture taken, and changing outfits a million times. Her temporary modeling career was a necessary, but embarrassing, phase in her life that very few people knew about.

Reid looked at her still curious. "So if you guys had such money problems how did you end up going to a private high school?"

"Awe, the great thing about the New York City Public School System is that your grades are constantly being watched by private schools so that they can snag the so called valuable kids, aka, the kids that will make their school look better. So after grade eight, they offered me a free ride for the rest of high school if I attended their school. They did the same thing with Anthony, he went to Packer too."

He laughed, "Wow! I thought that my high school and university experiences were out of the ordinary."

"Yeah what was high school like for a genius?" She smirked at him as he sat down next to her.

"Well I graduated at age twelve. It was weird, at that age constantly being around people who are six years older than you, it's awkward. Plus I was beat up a lot but that goes with almost every male's high school experience. I mainly focused on my school work. Same when I was at university."

She inched closer to him and placed her hand on the back of his neck, pulling him closer. She kissed him softly on the lips and then pulled back. She bit down on her bottom lip and then whispered seductively in his ear, "The bad thing about constantly doing stuff in high school that will look good on an application is that it doesn't leave time for much of a social life. I've never fooled around on this bed before."

Reid swallowed nervously as she kissed up and down his neck. She moved so that she sat on his lap sideways. She ran her hand slowly down his chest and was about to slip a finger into his dress pants when they heard Vincent yell, "You seriously do not want me to come up there!" Strangely enough, a wave of relief rushed over Reid.

Elle yelled back, "We're coming back down!" She stood up and began to walk out of the room but not before she twirled back around and smirked at him.

He followed her back down the stairs and into the living room. Elle gazed up at the clock on the wall. "Its 4:30, we should probably get going." She walked towards the hutch to retrieve their guns and then to her Mom. "Thanks Mom, it was great."

Her mother hugged her and said quietly, "I know you have too much pride to come out and ask me so I'll just answer you anyway, I like him."

Elle smiled, "Thanks, love you." She then turned and hugged her brothers one by one. "Bye guys, love you."

Vincent hugged her the longest. "Bye Ellie and try not to wait six months before you visit next time."

"Okay I promise," she said honestly as he let her go.

"Thank you for having me Mrs. Greenaway," Reid said politely.

"No problem, anytime," she replied sweetly.

Reid shook each of Elle's brothers' hands. Vincent increased his grip on Reid's hand as he said threateningly, "Touch her and I'll kill ya."

Elle glared at Vincent and said, "You're too overprotective," as they walked out the door.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Criminal Minds or Without A Trace**

**Chapter 14 – Advice from "Mom"**

_BAU Jet_

_Flight From __New York City__ to __Quantico_

Most of the BAU team was emotionally and physically drained. The girls were all asleep. As usual, Elle slept across the couch-like piece of furniture at the back of the plane. Garcia slept sitting up, clutching her laptop protectively in her arms, and JJ had attempted to do some paperwork but had fallen asleep with her head now resting on a stack of files. Morgan sat at the back of the plane with his eyes closed listening to his MP3 player, although he was not asleep, and uncharacteristically, Hotch had decided to take a quick nap before he arrived home to Haley and the baby. Gideon and Reid sat at the front of the plane playing chess.

"Checkmate," Gideon announced.

Reid frowned, "Lost again."

"Well you weren't fully paying attention were you?"

"I don't know what you mean," Reid said puzzled.

Gideon smiled, "You were paying a little too much attention to a certain someone who is asleep at the back of the plane." He turned around to look at Elle, who was rolling over in her sleep. Reid blushed. "It's okay Reid; you know it's not against the rules. Just be careful." Reid once again looked at him confused. "You and Elle are probably two of the smartest people I've ever worked with but emotionally, you could both use more balance. Elle has a hard time controlling hers and you have a hard time expressing yours. Don't jump into anything but don't hesitate because of over analysis either."

THE END!! HOPE YOU ENJOYED!!! STAY TUNED FOR PART 2 COMING SOON!!!


End file.
